Iran claims it tested “tens” of short, medium and large-range missiles at a hypothetical enemy base,” presumably Israeli and American.
Fars News Agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, reported Tuesday that the Guards Aerospace Force missile units “fired tens of Shahab 1, 2 and 3, Fateh, Qiyam, Persian Gulf and Zelzal missiles at a hypothetical enemy air base – which IRGC officials had earlier said is a replica of the air bases of the trans-regional powers (the US) – in Iran’s Lut Desert simultaneously.”
“Long, medium and short-range surface-to-surface missiles will be fired from different locations in Iran… at replica airbases like those used by the trans-regional military forces,” Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said.
The latest “Great Prophet 7” war games “appeared to underline Tehran’s threat to strike U.S. military bases in the neighboring countries – in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia – if it comes under attack by Israel or the United States,” according to Fars.
The ballistic missile is capable of striking Israel, which is within range of the Shahab-3, which Iran claims can strike up to 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) away, nearly twice the distance between Iran and Israel.
“In these exercises, we used missiles with a range of 2,000 kilometers, but the plan called for them to be fired only 1,300 kilometers,” Ali Hajizadeh told Fars.
Revolutionary Guards deputy commander General Hossein Salami told the official Iranian news agency IRNA that the latest war games and missile tests are “a reaction to those who are politically discourteous to the Iranian people by saying ‘all options are on the table'” he said.
He claimed that the missile launches against a mock military base were “100 percent successful.”
The Fars News Agency often makes claims that are not substantiated or which have proven to be false. It reported two weeks ago that Egypt’s newly-elected Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Morsi had said in an interview that he would reconsider the 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
Morsi denied having spoken with Fars, let alone openly questioning the peace treaty.