IRAN IS prepared to launch missiles at US bases throughout the Gulf within minutes of an attack on the Islamic Republic, according to a commander of the country’s Revolutionary Guards.
In an apparent response to reports that the US has increased its military presence in the Gulf, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ air force said yesterday that missiles had been aimed at 35 US military bases in the Gulf as well as targets in Israel.
The semi-official Fars news agency reported Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh as saying: “We have thought of measures to set up bases and deploy missiles to destroy all these bases in the early minutes after an attack.”
Mr Hajizadeh’s remarks were made on the sidelines of a three-day war game, called Great Prophet Seven, which Iranian officials claimed was a show of defiance against western pressure, including the US and EU embargo on imports of Iranian oil that came into effect on July 1st.
“These [US] bases are all in range of our missiles, and the occupied lands [Israel] are also good targets for us,” Mr Hajizadeh said.
During the exercise, the elite Revolutionary Guards test-fired missiles including Shahab-3s and Sejils, believed to have a range of 1,930km, capable of hitting Israel.
The US military has several bases in the Gulf, and the navy’s Bahrain-based fifth fleet is 120 miles from the Iranian coast. Israel is about 600 miles from Iran.
The US has reinforced its military presence in the Gulf, increasing the number of fighter jets and minesweepers.
Iran has indicated that in reaction to oil sanctions it may shut the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s crude passes.
Israel has said it may carry out a pre-emptive military strike against Iran because of its nuclear activities, but there are doubts about whether it has the capacity to do so without US help.
A meeting in Istanbul between Iranian and international nuclear experts ended early yesterday with an agreement to keep low-level contacts going in the hope of narrowing the huge gap between Tehran and the major powers over the scope and scale of its nuclear programme. – (Guardian Service)