Iran warns countries including U.S. to keep away from military drills

TEHRAN, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Iran has warned the U.S. Navy not to approach its southern region amid a large-scale military exercise in which it successfully test-fired a long-range surface-to-air missile.

Iranian Air Defense Gen. Abbas Farajpour on Wednesday said Iran warned 12 fighter jets and drones belonging to several regional countries to steer clear of Iranian airspace since the start of the Defenders of Velayat Skies 7 military exercise began Monday.

Several fighter jets and drones belonged to the U.S. Navy, Farajpour said.

"Of course, we are witnessing the presence of a number of trans-regional planes outside the air and sea borders of the country but we emphasize that these planes should know their limits and know that we will take action in less than one second," Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmayeeli said. "They should fully keep away from the drills zone."

The Defenders of Velayat Skies 7 exercise involves more than 17,000 members of Iran's Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps spread across 191,000 square miles of territory mainly in Iran's Hormozgan, Bushehr and Khuzestan pronvinces.

Iran successfully test-fired its S-200 surface-to-air missile in Bushehr. Iran also deployed missile defense systems to destroy mock hostile drones in Kharg Island.