The fortnight-long exercise in the Gulf has seen 41 nations take part in drills aimed at protecting shipping from mines, attack by small ships and guarding oil platforms. Most of the vessels belong to Nato members but Australia and some Arab states have also contributed ships.
The organisers say the exercise is purely defensive and deny it is aimed at Iran, but Tehran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, a key strategic chokepoint that is just 25 miles wide at its narrowest point, in a move which would send oil process soaring, deal a heavy blow to the world economy - and would provoke a military clash.
Capt Rodgers said: "The mission of mine counter measures is defensive in nature and we are not belligerent here. We are just practising to open up a waterway that may have been mined, so that oil and gas can get out to countries."
Six British ships are among the vessels taking part in the exercise in which participants are practising securing passage through a stretch of water 250 miles long and 50 miles wide.
The Navy has four mine hunters in the Gulf at any one time, equipped with divers, sonar and Seafox remote controlled underwater drones to find and destroy mines.
Lt-Cdr Ben Vickery, commander of the mine hunter HMS Atherstone, plastic-hulled to prevent it triggering an explosion, said: "It's something at which the Navy is world leading. It's an area where we have got great pieces of equipment and we are well supported."
The congested Strait carries nearly a third of all waterborne oil supplies, amounting to between 15 and 17 million barrels daily. A single mine costing a few thousand dollars could cripple a billion dollar vessel. Mines were used heavily during the Iran-Iraq war and the first Gulf war, and nine nations in the region still keep stocks.
Crews also held drills to protect shipping against the threat of terrorist suicide attack by small bomb-laden boats such as the one which struck the USS Cole in Aden in 2000. The ships bristled with mini-guns and heavy machine guns that would be used to unleash a barrage of fire against waves of attacking small craft, a tactic that has been rehearsed by Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
Cdre Simon Ancona, the Navy officer leading the exercise, said: "It's not one single threat, it's anything that could have a catastrophic effect on big value shipping. That's the thing that has such a huge impact on economies."
Such an attack would send energy markets into an instant panic he predicted, potentially costing billions.
Right now, though, he said relations with the Iranian navy were "polite, professional and reasonably cordial".
"In no sense do we feel that either side has an inclination, or indeed is it in their interest, to sabre rattle or be provocative.
"Neither side would wish an incident of miscalculation."
Iranian cleric says women cannot be president as 30 females try to have names added to the ballot
A member of Iran's constitutional watchdog group insists that women cannot be presidential candidates, a report said on Thursday, effectively killing the largely symbolic bids by about 30 women seeking to run in the June 14 election.
Even before the comments by Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, chances for a woman candidate in Iran's presidential election were considered nearly impossible.
Women also have registered as potential candidates in past presidential elections, but the group that vets hopefuls appears to follow interpretations of the constitution that suggest only a man may hold Iran's highest elected office. Women, however, are cleared to run for Iran's parliament and have served as lawmakers.
The semi-official Mehr news agency quotes Yazdi as saying the "law does not approve" of a woman in the presidency and a woman on the ballot is "not allowed."
The Guardian Council, where Yazdi is a member, vets all candidates for the presidency and parliament. A total of 686 people have registered to replace President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who cannot run for a third mandate because of term limits.
The final list will be announced on Tuesday, with only a handful of names expected on the ballot.
While women have greater freedom in Iran than many other countries in the region, particularly Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Afghanistan, the wording of the constitution appears to close the door on the presidency.
It says the president will be elected from religious-political men, or "rijal," a plural for man in Arabic that is common in Farsi, too.
Presumed candidates include former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is backed by pro-reform groups, and rivals supported by the ruling clerics such as top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati.
A major question is whether the Guardian Council will clear Ahmadinejad's choice, close aide Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei. His chances are severely hampered by his association with Ahmadinejad, who has fallen out of favour with the ruling theocracy over his challenges to the authority of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Edited by Steve Wilson for telegraph.co.uk
Stuxnet worm 'increased' Iran's nuclear potential
Iran's nuclear potential may have been significantly increased by the Stuxnet worm that is believed to have infected the country's uranium enrichment facility at Natanz in 2009 and 2010, new research claims.
The report, published in the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) journal, claims the Stuxnet worm exposed vulnerabilities in Iranian enrichment facilities that would otherwise have gone unnoticed, and that production actually went up in the year after it was allegedly discovered.
Furthermore, the impression in the West that Natanz was under attack left the Iranians to "progress quietly" with enriching more uranium, hindering diplomatic solutions to reducing the threat of a nuclear Iran.
In an analysis of data collected by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Ivanka Barzashka, an academic at King's College, London, argues that Iran has regrouped and improved centrifuge performance and has started enriching uranium to higher concentrations than before.
Furthermore, since August 2010 the number of operating machines has been "steadily growing" at Natanz.
The Stuxnet worm, which allegedly attacked the Natanz plant by altering the frequency at which motors connected to gas centrifuges that separate uranium isotopes turn, formed part of a wave of digital attacks on the country in 2009 and 2010.
Iran decommissioned and replaced about 1,000 IR-1 centrifuges in the Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) at Natanz, late in 2009 or early in 2010.
Barzashka writes that Iran's ability to successfully operate new machines "was not hindered" and that "Stuxnet's effects have not simply 'worn off'."
"Iran's uranium-enrichment capacity increased and, consequently, so did its nuclear-weapons potential," she says.
"Stuxnet was of net benefit to Iran if, indeed, its government wants to build a bomb or increase its nuclear-weapons potential.
"The malware - if it did in fact infiltrate Natanz - has made the Iranians more cautious about protecting their nuclear facilities," she adds.
Former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind criticised the report, emphasising that bilateral talks between the US and Iran were the only way to curb Iranian nuclear ambition.
Sir Malcolm, who currently serves as Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, which oversees Britain's cybersecurity strategy, toldThe Daily Telegraph: "What is undoubted is that it [Stuxnet] significantly slowed down the enrichment process.
"Part of the objective of many people in the international community has been to stop, or if you can’t stop, to slow down the Iranian nuclear programme.
"In so far as Stuxnet may have done that, and I emphasise may have done that, it was a plus.
"The most important diplomatic initiative on the table is the offer by the President of the United States for a direct bilateral discussion between the United States and Iran."
World's biggest anti-mine naval exercise after Iranian threats to close Gulf
A fleet of 34 ships will on Monday begin the world's biggest anti-mine exercise in an international naval show of force after Iranian threats to close the Gulf.
The British-led exercise will see a coalition of 41 nations practise detecting and clearing mines to ensure they can keep open one of the world's most important shipping lanes.
The exercise follows Iranian warnings in recent years it might block the Strait of Hormuz if it were ever to come under attack from America or Israel for its nuclear programme, or as retaliation for international sanctions against the country.
Such a move would send the oil price soaring and deal a significant blow to the already weakened world economy.
Tehran has already said it will "fully monitor" the massive exercise this week and has warned participants against "provocations".
Iran held its own minesweeping exercise east of the Strait last week and said it had unveiled a "modern anti-mine" system.
Commodore Simon Ancona, the Royal Navy officer leading this week's exercise, said it was purely defensive and said it was not aimed directly at Iran or any other nation.
He said: "There's no way any one can claim that they are provocative. They will all take place in international waters. There's nothing overtly provocative and there's nothing covert."
He said the exercise had been put on because of growing international recognition that keeping sea lanes free of mines and protecting shipping was critical to the world economy.
Six British ships are among the craft taking part. Overall, the mine hunting and disposal drills will use more than 100 divers and 18 underwater remote controlled drone craft to detect and destroy mines. The Royal Navy prides itself on having some of the best anti-mine expertise and equipment in the world.
Ships will also carry out exercises to protect oil installations and escort convoys of merchant ships.
The Strait carries 30 per cent of seaborne oil supplies, Commodore Ancona said, amounting to 15 to 17 million barrels a day.
He said: "There's no doubt in my mind that a shift in oil prices is a global event and should oil prices increase, then we would all feel that cold breeze."
The 25-mile wide Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Persian Gulf is by far the most important oil chokepoint in the world. The threat to close it remains Iran's most potent strategic weapon.
Malcolm Graham-Wood, an oil analyst with VSA Capital in London, predicted that if Iran ever decided to close the Strait with mines then international oil prices could double overnight. A growing number of pipelines in the Gulf have yet to diminish the oil trade's reliance on the vulnerable waterway.
However he said they would probably quickly fall back as America and its allies moved to clear the channel. He said: "The basic problem is that the Straits are very narrow and easy to mine."
Commanders said that British and American naval vessels came into regular contact with their Iranian counterparts in the Gulf's confined waters and relations were civil.
Vice Admiral John Miller, commander of the US Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain, said: "I think we have a fairly good idea of what their maritime capability is. We are out in the Gulf each and every day and the Iranian navy is out in the water every day and we have a good opportunity to assess each other."
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could face 74 lashes over Iran election 'violation'
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could face 74 lashes or six months in jail if punished to the full extent of the law for breaking electoral rules by accompanying his chief of staff to register as a candidate in Iran's forthcoming elections.
Footage of a smiling Mr Ahmadinejad accompanying Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei to the electoral registry was broadcast on State television on Saturday.
In an off-guard moment, the Iranian president was caught apparently muttering to his aid and confidant that if questions were raised as to why he had accompanied him to the electoral registry, "tell them I'm on a day off work".
The Guardian Council complained about the president's conduct on Sunday.
Iran's constitutional watchdog has said it might seek charges against Mr Ahmadinejad.
The Council's members said that public fund rules were broken when Mr Ahmadinejad accompanied Mr Mashaei to the election registration office.
The Guardian Council is charged with vetting all 680 hopeful presidential candidates, including Mr Mashaei.
Mr Ahmadinejad, who is constitutionally forbidden from running for a third term, has pushed hard for Mr Mashaei to succeed him when the country heads to the polls on June 14th in a campaign his opponents claim has been funded with public money. The men have a close political bond, cemented by the marriage of their children.
However, Mr Ahmadinejad's long-standing feud with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the ruling clerics is working against the presidential hopeful and undoubtedly played a role in Sunday's complaint against him.
Mr Mashaei, who announced his intention to run for the presidency on 11 May, has been accused of the Ayatollah's allies of seeking to undermine Islamic rule and criticised for his "deviant" tendencies.
Mr Mashaei, described as a "religious-nationalist", has outraged Iranian Islamic conservatives with his nationalistic and allegedly pro-Israel position. He once stated that Iranians are "friends of all people in the world – even Israelis".
The cards for the June 14 elections have so far been stacked heavily in favour of candidates allied with the Ayatollah. Among the current favourites are Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the mayor of Tehran and former police chief, and Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to the Supreme Leader.
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was president for eight years between 1989 and 1997, has also launched his bid for a political comeback at the age of 78.
Iran's former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani bids for political comeback
Iran's presidential election was thrown open on Saturday when Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a wealthy and manipulative opponent of the country's current rulers, registered as a candidate.
Mr Rafsanjani, who served as president for eight years between 1989 and 1997, launched his bid for a political comeback at the age of 78.
He joined 455 other hopefuls registering to contest the election due on June 14, ranging from Saeed Jalili, Iran's chief negotiator on the nuclear issue, and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, the president's chief of staff whose religious views have been denounced as "deviancy" and "heresy".
Mr Rafsanjani's surprise nomination could have the most impact. Once a pillar of the Islamic regime, he endorsed the opposition Green Movement during the last election in 2009, when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the outgoing president, won a bitterly disputed contest.
Mr Rafsanjani was then singled out for attack by the regime: his daughter, Faezeh, was jailed last year for spreading "propaganda against the ruling system". She was released in March after spending 14 months in Evin prison.
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, right, with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2012 (AP)
Because of his loathing for Mr Ahmadinejad and his backing for the Green Movement, Mr Rafsanjani has won the support of some reformers. However, many question how he acquired his wealth and point out that he achieved little during his previous terms as president. Western diplomats see Mr Rafsanjani as a wily pragmatist, not a genuine reformer.
However, all the candidates have to be vetted by the Guardian Council, a powerful committee of senior clerics, before they will be allowed to run. This gives Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, an opening to disqualify those of whom he disapproves.
Experts said he would face a difficult decision over whether to ensure that Mr Rafsanjani and Mr Mashaei are both vetoed. "The decision will depend on what guarantees more stability to the regime," said Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-born commentator at the Inter-Disciplinary Centre, an Israeli think tank.
"If the Revolutionary Guards and the intelligence ministry say they will damage stability, there's no way they will be allowed to run. But if they can demonstrate real support and that barring them from taking part will hurt stability more, Khamenei will let them run. Whether they would then be allowed to win or not is another question."
Mr Javedanfar added: "This is not going to be a real election – more a large primary in the Supreme Leader's office."
Insiders believe that Ayatollah Khamenei's preferred candidates are Gholam Ali Hadad-Adel, a reliable former Speaker of parliament, who is related to the Supreme Leader by marriage, and Mr Jalili, an ideological hardliner who leads Iran's negotiations with the West.
Another possible favoured candidate could be Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the mayor of Tehran who previously served as commander of the Revolutionary Guard air force. At one point, he was believed to be the Supreme Leader's choice for the presidential election in 2005. But Ayatollah Khamenei changed his mind – amid speculation that he found Mr Qalibaf too moderate – and instead backed Mr Ahmadinejad.
Ayatollah Khamenei looks to tighten grip on Iran as acolytes line up for election
Fears that Iran's presidential elections next month will be used to tighten the grip of its ultra-conservative Supreme Leader grew when a member of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's extended family announced his candidacy.
Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, whose daughter is married to Mr Khamenei's son, became the first of three trusted allies of the Supreme Leader to enter the race, which is expected to be dominated by Khamenei acolytes.
Senior representatives of Iran's reformist camp, who led the failed "Green Revolution" protests after the disputed 2009 elections, are unlikely to be allowed to run at all in the contest.
But the Supreme Leader is fending off challenges from the faction led by Iran's outgoing president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is legally obliged to step down after serving two terms.
Mr Khamenei, who wields ultimate authority in Iran, originally backed Mr Ahmadinejad when he won re-election in 2009. However, the two men have since fallen out over Mr Ahmadinejad's populist style, which the Supreme Leader is believed to have seen as a threat to his own power.
Mr Ahmadinejad's own favoured successor, Afsandyar Rahim Mashaei, has until the end of today to register his desire to be a candidate, but it is thought that if he does so, Iran's Guardian Council, which scrutinises all bidders for political office, is likely to veto his candidacy.
Mr Mashaei, a close political adviser to Mr Ahmadinejad, has upset the clerical establishment because of a political approach that emphasises Iran's strong sense of national identity, as opposed to its religious one.
"It is likely that Mr Mashaei will not be allowed to stand because he is not seen as having the necessary religious purity," said Sir Richard Dalton, a former British ambassador to Iran now attached to foreign affairs think tank Chatham House.
In the past, Iran has prided itself on its elections offering voters at least a degree of choice, albeit between candidates who endorse its system of religious government to a greater or lesser extent.
But if even pro-Ahmadinejad candidates are barred from entering the race, it will leave the poll with almost no credibility whatsoever, with the option of choosing only one pro-Khamenei hardliner or another.
The only prominent reformist to have registered his candidacy so far is Mohammad Reza Aref, who served as vice-president under former president Mohammad Khatami, the reformist leader, between 1997 and 2005. Most observers, however, believe his candidacy will ultimately also be vetoed.
But Judge Makes Findings of Fact that Could Lead to Criminal Indictments in Spain
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