IRAN launched ballistic and cruise missiles during intense war games in the Persian Gulf amid fears it's on the cusp of developing nuclear weapons. 

Military chiefs bragged on state TV the missiles have a range of 1,200 miles and are capable of reaching US bases in the region plus its arch-foe Israel — which has reportedly planned to target Iranian nuke sites. 

The war games came as an expert told the Sun Iran can ready the materials for a nuclear weapon in just eight weeks.

Guards chief General Hossein Salami told state TV: "The use of ballistic missiles by the Revolutionary Guards' navy is a new concept … and they hit their targets with 100 per cent precision.”

Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said: "We have carried out exercises to destroy the enemy before they approach the Hormuz islands.”

A fifth of world oil output passes through the Strait of Hormuz.

The military drills dubbed Payambar-e-Azadm, or "Great Prophet", began on Monday in Bushehr, Hormozgan and Khuzestan provinces, each of which touch the Gulf.

They included biological warfare exercises.

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The same day the drills started Iran warned of a "crushing" response to any move against it by Israel, which opposes efforts by world powers to revive Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal and has long threatened military action if diplomacy fails to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear bomb. 

Iran says its nuclear ambitions are peaceful.

Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear arsenal.

The exercises also included the simultaneous firing of five cruise missiles and the launch of armed drones capable of hitting two targets each, Iranian media reported. 

The five-day drills began on Monday.

Trita Parsi, the Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told The Sun: “The breakout capability – meaning the amount of time it would take for them to have the materials ready for a nuclear weapon – is now somewhere between eight and 12 weeks.”

BREAK DOWN IN NUCLEAR TALKS

The war games currently under way came days after the breakup of talks to revive Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.

Iran has accelerated its nuclear advances as negotiations to return to the accord struggle to make headway.

From time to time, Iran holds military exercises, saying they are aimed at improving the readiness of its forces and testing new weapons.

Last month, Irans military began its annual war games in a coastal area of the Gulf of Oman.

In 2018, former President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the nuclear deal and re-imposed crushing sanctions on Iran. Tehran has since started enriching uranium up to 60% purity – a short technical step from the 90% needed to make an atomic bomb.

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