Iran launched a large-scale air-defense exercise to protect its nuclear plants against any attack, local media reported on Sunday.

The five-day exercise, dubbed Asemane Velayat 2, will be carried out in three stages and cover a vast area in the northwest, west, south and southwest of the country. The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and Iran's regular armed forces are involved in the exercise.

Iran frequently holds military exercises and shows off modern weaponry in an effort to demonstrate its readiness to thwart any attack against its nuclear facilities.

The West led by the United States accuses Iran of pursuing a secret nuclear weapons program but the Islamic Republic has said it needs nuclear power solely for civilian purposes.

The United States and Israel have not ruled out military action against Iran to stop the Islamic Republic from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps said late on Saturday that Iran would retaliate against Israel, if attacked.

"If the enemy attacks Iran, our missiles will strike Tel Aviv," Mojhtaba Zolnoor, supreme leader representative in Revolutionary Guards, was quoted by the ILNA news agency as saying.

TEHRAN, November 22 (RIA Novosti)