Skip to content

Iran: If enemies do wrong, missiles will come down on them

Iran: If enemies do wrong, missiles will come down on them

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's missiles will come down on the country's enemies if they do wrong, a senior commander in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard was quoted as saying in a Saturday report from semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, chief of the Guard's airspace division, said: "If the enemy does not walk the line, our missiles come down on them."

Hajizadeh's comments came during a Revolutionary Guard military exercise aimed at testing its missile and radar systems. The exercise was taking place in a 35,000-square-kilometre (13,515-square-mile) area in Semnan province in northern Iran.

The exercise comes a day after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration imposed sanctions on Iran in response to a recent missile test. The sanctions target more than two dozen people and companies from the Persian Gulf to China.

Tasnim said all the equipment used in the war game, including all defensive systems, radars, command centres and ground-to-air missile equipment, are designed and manufactured by Iranian scientists.

Iranian English language Press TV reported that Iran Senior Vice-President Ishaq Jahangiri dismissed what he called recent anti-Iran posturing by the U.S. He said "threadbare" accusations are aimed by Washington at scaring away investors.

"The Iranian nation and authorities do not attach the least value to these remarks," he said.

Iran insists its missile test was only for defensive purposes and not a violation of the U.N. Security Council 2231 resolution or the nuclear deal with Western powers.

Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted Friday that his country was "unmoved by threats as we derive security for our people. We'll never initiate war, but we can only rely on our own means of defence."

Amir Vahdat, The Associated Press