A senior Iranian government official on Saturday threatened that Tehran would quickly retaliate against Israel, with “roaring missiles” capable of reaching Tel Aviv in seven minutes, if America were to launch a military strike against the Islamic Republic.
Speaking at a Revolutionary Guard military exercise, Majtaba Zonour, a senior member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission and a former Revolutionary Guard official, stated: “Only seven minutes is needed for the Iranian missile to hit Tel Aviv”.
Zonour added that Tehran would “raze to the ground” a US military base in Bahrain “if the enemy makes a mistake”.
The Revolutionary Guard military exercise, which aimed at testing Tehran’s missile and radar systems, took place in the Semnan province in northern Iran.
These remarks from the Iranian government have come after a series of heated exchanges between Iranian and US officials over Iran’s ballistic-missile programme. Last weekend, Iran test-fired a medium range missile, condemned by the White House as being in ‘flagrant violation’ of the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 and the nuclear arms deal made with P5+1 in 2015. Tehran confirmed the ballistic missile test, but denied that it was in breach of the nuclear deal or the UNSC Resolutions.
Following this, President Donald Trump announced on Friday that the US would impose new sanctions on Iran, targeting 12 companies and 13 individuals suspected of involvement in Iran’s missile programme and its support for foreign armed groups.
The list includes Chinese firms suspected of supplying parts used in Iran’s missile development programme.
Chief of the Iranian Guard’s airspace division, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, threatened: “If the enemy make a mistake, our roaring missiles will come down on them”.
General Hajizadeh continued: Washington’s criticism of recent Iranian missile tests was a “pretext to show their animosity towards us; we are making round-the-clock efforts to defend our country’s security and if the enemy dares to make any mistake our roaring missiles will land on them”.
Meanwhile, Iran says it is expecting a shipment this week which will result in the country having 60% more stockpiled uranium than it did prior to the nuclear deal.
Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as stating that Iran would receive a final batch of 149 tonnes of natural uranium from Russia by Tuesday, in addition to 210 tonnes already delivered since early 2016.
