Iran’s ballistic-missile programme will never stop under any circumstances and Tehran has missiles ready to be fired, said a senior commander of the country’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) according to state TV on Thursday. That phrase–that Israel must, should, or will be wiped out–has been used and said, many, many times by Iranian leaders, popularized by an ayatollah who died in the late 1980s.
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The IRGC has undertaken a number of provocative military shows of force since the nuclear deal was signed, including flying a drone near United States naval ships in the Gulf, firing rockets near the ships and briefly detaining U.S. navy sailors who strayed into Iranian waters.
In Wednesday’s tests, Iran launched Qadr-H and Qadr-F precision-guided ballistic missiles with a range of 1,400 kilometres and thus capable of reaching Israel.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that if it was determined that Iran’s ballistic missile tests were in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions, Tehran could face “some consequences ” “.
However, Reuters reported that French and USA officials said it may violate a United Nations resolution that prohibits Iran from testing ballistic missile that can carry nuclear warheads.
As Iran carried out its missile tests, Biden met with Netanyahu in Jerusalem, where the vice president pledged the U.S.’s continued support to Israel following a spate of terror attacks carried out by Palestinians this week.
“The reason we designed our missiles with a range of 2,000 km is to be able to hit our enemy the Zionist regime from a safe distance”, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh was quoted as saying by the ISNA agency.
A tanker filled with Iranian oil pulled into a Spanish port this week and began off-loading the first shipment of Iranian oil since the lifting of the European Union’s embargo – a result of the nuclear deal negotiated last July that took effect in January.
The Israeli Defence Minister says it confirms that some in the West have been misled by what he calls the “honeyed” words of part of the Iranian leadership.
No phone talk was done between the two diplomats, the ministry said, Iran’s state-run IRINN TV reported March 10.
The United States imposed sanctions against businesses and individuals in January over another missile test in October 2015. But the IRGC said it would not bow to pressure. The US legislature also said it would push for more unilateral sanctions.
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The Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) maintains an arsenal of dozens of short and medium-range ballistic missiles – the largest in the Middle East, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. It says they are exclusively for defensive use with conventional, non-nuclear warheads.
