The Initial Briefing Session of IONS Maritime Exercise (IMEX 2019) was held in Tehran

The first coordinating session of IONS Maritime Exercise was held with participation of defense attachés of IONS members and observers countries like China, Russia, Japan, Germany, Oman, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, The Netherlands, and Italy with the chairmanship of Commodore Mohammadreza Azizi in the I.R. Iran Navy Headquarters.

With emphasizing on the point that security of the north of the Indian Ocean should only be provided by the regional countries, Commodore Mohammadreza Azizi mentioned that after the first official IONS Exercise in Bangladesh, with the collective approval of IONS members, the second IONS Exercise will be held in the vicinity of the north of the Indian Ocean.

The IONS Secretary states that the purpose of holding this maritime exercise is to achieve convergence, synergy, and adjustment of operational standards among countries, sharing information and reach regional balanced growth. This will lead to the maritime security of the Indian Ocean Region.

He declares that the Combined Maritime Exercise will be held with the presence of destroyers, logistic ships, helicopters, and drones within the framework of Damage Control and Counter-Piracy Operations in the north of the Indian Ocean.

The 6^th summit of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) was held in April of 2018 in Tehran with participation of members and observers. I.R. Iran Navy is the current chair of this symposium.