All 35 nearby US bases are in reach of our missiles, Iran declares

The Iranian military on Wednesday fired several of its new Khalij-e Fars (Persian Gulf) missiles at naval targets, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.

A report by the public relations office of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed that the new missile contains high-precision systems, can carry a 650-kilogram (1,433 lb.) warhead, and is immune to interception.

The missiles were fired on the final day of a three-day military exercise titled “The Great Prophet 7,” during which the IRGC has tested dozens of short-, medium- and long-range rockets as part of a major drill aimed at simulating attacks on foreign targets, Iran’s IRNA news agency said.

On Wednesday, the commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, was quoted by Fars as saying that if Iran is attacked, the response would be immediate. He noted that there are 35 US bases near Iran, all of which “are within the reach of our missiles.” Hajizadeh added that “the occupied lands [Israel] are good targets for us as well.”

“Measures have been devised to set up bases and deploy missiles within the first minutes of an attack to obliterate all these [US] bases,” he said.

Hajizadeh said that the current exercises differed from previous ones in that all missiles were fired at a single target from different locations.

According to Fars, in April, IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said cryptically that the “Khalij-e Fars missile has been developed somehow different from the usual trend and can change the equations on which the enemy most relies.”

Fadavi also said at the time that Iran now had missiles that can be mounted on high-speed boats and have a firing range of over 200 kilometers (120 miles).

Israel is about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away from Iran’s western borders, while the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain, some 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Iranian shores in the Persian Gulf.

The Iranian commander quoted by Fars said Iran used both unmanned and manned bombers in the war games and was firing a variety of other missiles. Tehran says the drills aim to assess the accuracy and effectiveness of its warheads and weapons systems.

IRNA said the missiles targeted and destroyed mock positions of “ultra-regional forces” set up in a desert region in central Iran.

The range of missiles being tested included some that Iran has supplied to Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel Radio said.

On Sunday Hajizadeh said that the three-day missile exercise should be seen as a message “that the Islamic Republic of Iran is resolute in standing up to… bullying, and will respond to any possible evil decisively and strongly.”

“If they take any action, they will hand us an excuse to wipe them off the face of the earth,” said Hajizadeh, evidently referring to Israel.

Hajizadeh also said Iran has produced an anti-radar missile called “Arm” that can hit any source of radar. He said the weapon could travel at several times the speed of sound, had an estimated range of 300 kilometers, and could “damage” missile shields in Turkey and Gulf countries.

Source :http://www.timesofisrael.com