Iran and Russia refuse to conduct joint exercises in the Caspian Sea

Iranian warships that have visited the port of Astrakhan on an unofficial friendly visit will not conduct exercises or manoeuvres together with the ships of the Navy of Russia, the official representative of the Caspian Flotilla announced today.
Earlier, the Deputy Commander of the Caspian flotilla, Nicholas Yakubovsky, said that the Naval Fleets of Russia and the Islamic Republic of Iran were planning to hold joint military exercises in the Caspian Sea in the second half of 2013.

"Within the friendly visit it was not planned and is not planned to conduct any exercise on the Caspian Sea with the participation of Iranian Navy ships,"  the source is quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.

On June 28, two missile boats of the naval forces of Iran, the "Paykan" and the "Dzhushan," entered on an unofficial friendly visit the base of the Caspian Fleet - the port of Astrakhan.

It is also said that a return friendly visit by ships of the Caspian Flotilla to Iran is scheduled for the autumn of 2013.  "It will be the third visit in the recent history of Russia, the previous visit being in 2007. Whether naval exercises will be carried out in the course of the visit, we do not know yet," the representative of the Caspian Flotilla said.