Military chief touts reach of Iranian missiles
Reuters
Published: Thursday, August 16, 2007
Iranian missiles can hit warships operating anywhere in the Gulf and Oman Sea, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday, the day U.S. officials said they might label his forces "terrorists."
But the speech by Commander-in-Chief Yahya Rahim Safavi, according to a report carried by Iran's Fars News Agency, made no mention of the U.S. threat to brand his units.
"Our coast-to-sea missile systems can now reach the breadth and length of the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea and no warships can pass in the Persian Gulf without being in range of our coast-to-sea missiles," Safavi said in his speech, Fars reported.
Iran, locked in a standoff with Washington over its nuclear plans, has previously boasted it had missiles that could sink "big warships" in the Gulf, a region where U.S. aircraft carriers and warships operate.
The United States is seeking to isolate Iran over what it says is Tehran's bid to build nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear program. Iran insists its atomic plans are directed at making electricity to preserve its oil and gas for exports.
Safavi also said Iran's missiles, with a range of 2,000 kilometres, were fitted with equipment that enabled them to be remote controlled, an apparent reference to the Shahab-3 missile, although he did not name it. That missile could hit Israel.
Safavi said the Revolutionary Guards ground forces had missiles in its arsenal that could penetrate the armour plating he said was fitted to Israel's Merkava tanks and the U.S. Abrams tanks.
Iranian officials could not be reached for comment.
The Revolutionary Guards
- Formed in 1979 to protect the theocracy established after the Shah was deposed.
- The battle-hardened Guard is separate from Iran's regular army, and numbers about 125,000.
- It controls the deadliest weapons in Iran's arsenal, including Scud missiles and chemical and biological programs.
- A leading force in Iran's economy and politics, the Guards are suspected in the abduction of 15 British sailors and supplying missiles to Hezbollah.
Military chief touts reach of Iranian missiles
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