— A personal friend of mine, with close sources in the Army and IRGC, told me something which I found quite remarkable.

These exercises are apparently meant mainly in order to prepare Iranian troops for possible deployment in Central Asia, to guard China’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, in case of need.

Iran has been fortifying its ties with Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and other Central Asian nations recently, and the Belt and Road Initiative will contribute massively to the Iranian economy.

We will see. Personally, if I had to guess, I’d be betting on Armenia for the most likely deployment in the near future.