Iran’s powerful elite Revolutionary Guard opened the door of a secret underground missile base to state TV where medium – and long-range missiles were being stored.
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The footage also came a day after Iran’s parliament approved the country’s July 14 nuclear deal with six world powers.
Earnest says the Iranians have “almost serially” violated worldwide concerns about the country’s ballistic missile program.
The broadcast said the facility is one of hundreds of underground missile bases around the country.
“The long-range missile sites of the Islamic republic are located 500 meters deep underground in all the provinces and cities and are ready to be launched”, the aerospace commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, was quoted as saying by the website of the Guards Corps.
“This is a sample of our massive missile bases,” he said, adding that “a new and advanced generation of long-range liquid and solid fuel missiles” would start to replace the current weapons next year.
On Wednesday, the Iranian general apparently hinted that the show of military power had been a response to Western threats.
“Those who pin hope on options on the table, should only have a look at the Islamic republic’s army options under the table”.
“This destabilizing test must be met with immediate action, both unilaterally and at the United Nations Security Council, to make clear that Iran remains prohibited from developing this risky technology and uphold your administration’s pledge before Congress to counter Iran’s ballistic missile program”, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., wrote in a letter to President Obama.
At the State Department, a spokesman said the U.S. would pursue punitive action against Iran within the parameters of the existing UN Security Council resolution, but not new sanctions.
Earlier this month in a speech at a university in Tehran, Hajizadeh said that all US military bases in the Middle East were within range of Iranian missiles.
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The White House insisted the launch would have no impact on the recent nuclear deal.
