Russia and Iran hold joint military exercises - report

The maneuvers, announced Wednesday, are taking place this week in the Caspian Sea.

The media report quoted a senior Iranian ports authority official who said the drill was aimed at preventing pollution and improving search and rescue operations' coordination between the two nations.

The maneuver, involving some 30 vessels, is seen by some analysts as a way to join forces against the US, which the Iranian Asia Times has daily referred to as "the intrusive Western superpower."

Entitled "Regional Collaboration for a Secure and Clean Caspian," the two-day drill combines military objectives with environmental goals.

Russia has been protecting Iran, where it has built a nuclear reactor in Bushehr, from sanctions by the United Nations Security Council after Iran refused to end its nuclear development program.

Iran has continued to add uranium enrichment centrifuges and improve its ability to produce nuclear weapons-grade uranium, to the dismay of those hoping to persuade the Islamic Republic through diplomacy to abandon their efforts.