ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> <br />STORY: Iran started on Friday six days of naval drills in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's English-language broadcasting station Press TV and the country's official IRNA news agency reported.<br/> <br />The maneuvers are aimed at showcasing Iran's military capabilities in what is a vital oil and gas shipping route.<br/> <br />The "Velayat 91" drills would last until Wednesday across an area of about 1 million square kilometers in the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman and northern parts of the Indian Ocean, Press TV reported Sayyari as saying.<br/> <br />Iranian officials have often said Iran could block the strait - through which 40 percent of the world's sea-borne oil exports pass - if it came under military attack over its disputed nuclear program.<br/> <br />Iran held a similar 10-day drill last December and sent a submarine and a destroyer into the Gulf four months ago just as U.S. and allied navies were conducting exercises in the same waters to practice keeping oil shipping lanes open.<br/> <br />A heavy Western naval presence in the Gulf is meant to deter any attempt to block the waterway.
