Iran says ballistic missiles destroy target 1,800 km away in anti-warship drill

AIR FORCE HEAD: ‘NEW DRONE ACHIEVEMENTS’ TO BE UNVEILED SOON

Said to have range that could hit Israeli targets, missiles fired at ‘hypothetical hostile enemy ships’ in Indian Ocean

Media www.rajawalisiber.com  – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps conducted a drill on Saturday launching anti-warship ballistic missiles at a simulated target in the Indian Ocean, state television reported, amid heightened tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program and a US pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic.

Footage showed two missiles smash into a target that Iranian state television described as “hypothetical hostile enemy ships” at a distance of 1,800 kilometers (1,120 miles). The report did not specify the type of missiles used. That range could put the missiles in striking distance of Israeli targets.

Iran’s armed forces chief of staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri was present on the second day of the drill, alongside Guards chief Major General Hossein Salami and aerospace commander Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh. The IRGC is designated as a terrorist group by the US.

Using “long-range missiles for maritime targets indicates that if the enemies… show any ill will towards our national interests, maritime trade routes or territory, they will be targeted and destroyed by our missiles,” Sepahnews quoted Bagheri as saying.

“We do not intend to carry out any attack,” he said, adding that the exercise showed Iran’s readiness to defend itself “with all its strength” against any aggressor.

Meanwhile, the Iranian Air Force chief, Brigadier-General Aziz Nasirzadeh, said Saturday that Tehran had plans to unveil “new drone achievements in the near future,” according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.

On Friday morning, the Guard’s aerospace division launched several surface-to-surface ballistic missiles against simulated enemy bases, state TV reported.

It said the drill included Zolfaghar and Dezful solid-fuel ballistic missiles. Bomb-carrying drones were also deployed. The Dezful, a version of the Zolfaghar, has a 700-kilometer (430-mile) range and 450-kilogram (992-pound) warhead.

Iran has missile capability of up to 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), far enough to reach archenemy Israel and US military bases in the region. Last January, after the US killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad, Tehran retaliated by firing a barrage of ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases housing US troops, resulting in brain concussion injuries to dozens of them.

In recent weeks, Iran has increased its military drills. On Wednesday, Iran’s navy held a two-day short-range missile drill in the Gulf of Oman. Last Saturday, the Revolutionary Guard held a naval parade in the Persian Gulf. A week earlier, Iran held a massive drone maneuver across half the country.

The IRGC unveiled last week one of its “strategic missile bases” located on the “shores of the Persian Gulf,” according to the corps’ Sepahnews website.

Iranian state television showed underground tunnels and depots of missiles in the south of the country near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

“Our logic in defending the territorial integrity, the independence of the country, and the achievements of the Islamic Revolution is strengthening,” said the top commander of the IRGC, Gen. Hossein Salami, according to Mehr News. “What you see today is one of several IRGC Naval Strategic Missile facilities.”

The IRGC is designated a terrorist organization by the US.

Tensions have again been rising in the waning days of the administration of US President Donald Trump, as Iran ramps up pressure on the West over the US sanctions campaign against the Islamic Republic.