TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran has built a third underground plant to manufacture ballistic missiles, head of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)’s aerospace division General Amir-Ali Hadjizadeh said on Thursday.
"Step by step, we are developing our defensive capability and I announce today that in recent years we have built a third underground factory for the manufacture of missiles," Gen Hadjizadeh said.
"We are going to develop our ballistic power. It's normal that our enemies, that is to say the United States and Israel, are angry when we show off our underground missile bases because they want the Iranian people to be in a position of weakness," he added.
In October 2015, national television aired footage for the first time of a base that Gen Hadjizadeh said was 500m underground and stocked with a range of different missiles.
Armed forces spokesman General Masoud Jazayeri said earlier this month that Iran had a number of such underground silos which were an "important deterrent factor against the sworn enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran".
The Trump administration imposed fresh sanctions on Iran following a missile test in late January. It added more last week at the same time as it renewed a waiver of sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program.
In Saudi Arabia last Saturday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged newly re-elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to end ballistic missile testing.
On Monday, Rouhani retorted that Iran did not need U.S. permission to conduct missile tests and that they would continue "if technically necessary".
Reaction to Tillerson’s remarks, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Friday Iran will maintain its missile work with utmost determination, and will not pay heed to "empty” interventionist statements about the program.
"Such remarks are void, groundless, fallacious, and deceitful,” Qassemi said, adding Iran’s missile work falls within the country’s national policy and defensive programs.
Iran's defense program, he said, is a deterrent endeavor, which contributes to the regional stability and security and the fight against terror.
"We will continue this program with utmost strength and sternness, and will not allow others to pass comments on it,” Qassemi said.
Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Hussein Dehqan on Thursday hailed the country’s self-sufficiency in producing ballistic and cruise missiles.
"All efforts in the region today are directed at weakening Iran, and preserving Israel’s security and the U.S. arms market, but Iran is standing strong," he said.
Dehqan said, "Turning Saudi Arabia into a stockpile for American weapons is not a thing for them to be proud of,” the minister said.
"We tell Arab rulers to submit to the demands of their nations," Dehqan said, reminding them of the fate of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and urging them to abandon "servitude" to big powers.
Iran has learned that acceding to the hegemonic powers equals a negation of national identity, the minister said.
Qassemi, meanwhile, said Saudi leaders will take their wish to provoke a military attack against the Islamic Republic to their graves.  
The strong-worded reaction came after Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman said in a recent interview that his country "will work to have the battle in Iran.”
"Some have been entertaining such wishes for quite a long time, but they will take them to their graves,” Qassemi said, describing Saudi leaders’ remarks against Iran "unwise and wrong".
"They are trying to buy security for themselves with these methods and such statements but security to be bought is not enduring and will be of no consequence," the spokesman said.   
Qassemi was referring to a $110-billion arms deal which U.S. President Donald Trump clinched with Saudi Arabia during his recent visit to the kingdom.
"Naturally, security will not be achieved by purchasing numerous weapons. Contemporary history is witness that countries with a large arsenal and military capabilities had their situation totally changed in the end and this can happen to others as well," he said.
The Saudi kingdom could only achieve lasting security by relying on its own people and establishing democratic mechanisms that enable popular electoral participation, Qassemi added.