TEHRAN -- President Ebrahim Raisi on Saturday hailed “successful” drills held by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in southern Iran, warning the enemies of the country’s decisive response to any hostile act.
“Any hostile action by the enemies will face a comprehensive and decisive response from the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran and will change the strategic equation in a meaningful way,” Raisi said.
President Raisi, who also serves as the head of the Supreme National Security Council, also hailed the IRGC for trying to safeguard the security of the Iranian and regional nations.
He said the successful holding of the IRGC’s maneuver was a clear indication of the country’s “will and capability to defend the Iranian nation’s interests and security”.
The IRGC’s five-day massive drills, dubbed Great Prophet 17, ended on Friday. The exercises were part of major military drills Iran holds regularly to improve its combat readiness.
Meanwhile, Iranian officials denounced the British foreign office’s statement about Iran’s launch of ballistic missiles during its latest military drills, calling it “meddlesome”.
“The nuclear program of the Islamic Republic of Iran is completely peaceful, as evidenced by thousands of hours of inspections and numerous reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Iran has not designed its missiles for nuclear purposes since it did not have and does not have any plans to use nuclear energy militarily,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement.
“The British know better than anyone else that Iran’s missile program has nothing to do with UN Security Council Resolution 2231 and its provisions,” he added, stressing that it is the UK that practically violates the provisions of the said resolution through “arbitrary interpretation”.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)’s five-day massive drills, dubbed Great Prophet 17, ended on Friday. The maneuvers were held in the Persian Gulf region, the Strait of Hormuz, as well as the coastal areas of the southern province of Hormuzgan, Bushehr, and Khuzestan. The exercises were part of major military drills Iran holds regularly to improve its combat readiness.
The large-scale military exercises intended to showcase the maneuverability of solid-fuel missiles to cross enemy shields and to improve the combat readiness of the IRGC forces.
In a statement Friday, the British foreign office claimed that the launch of missiles by Iran was “a clear breach of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which requires that Iran not undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons – including launches using ballistic missile technology”.
The 2015 resolution which sanctioned Iran’s nuclear agreement, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), called upon Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology”.
In a post on his Instagram page, Iran’s Ambassador to London Mohsen Baharvand said, “Some countries have objected to Iran’s military maneuver, which is conventional and defensive, and some have called it contrary to UN Security Council Resolution 2231. These countries should be reminded once again that Resolution 2231 speaks of missiles designed to ‘carry nuclear weapons.’”
“Iranian missiles are not designed for this purpose, but to defend Iranian soil and give a crushing response to aggressors,” he added.
The envoy also cast doubts on Britain’s sincerity in recognizing threats to international peace.
“Resolution 2231 has many provisions that you did not implement and ignored. Your ability and honesty to identify threats to international peace and security is questionable. You imposed two major wars on the region under a pretext that you confessed to be wrong after killing thousands of civilians,” he wrote.
“If you are honest, condemn the Zionist regime only once, which threatens to use force against Iran on a daily basis contrary to the UN Charter.”
Khatibzadeh also condemned the Foreign Office statement, saying it amounts to meddling in Iran’s domestic affairs.
He said the UK expresses concern about Iran’s usual military drills amid an endless race among Britain and European countries for selling the most destructive weapons to West Asia and other crisis-hit regions, and while London signs military pacts such as AUKUS without paying heed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Khatibzadeh also denounced the British officials’ efforts to accuse Iran of being a threat to the region, stressing that what has fueled instability and insecurity in the region, including the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, is the “insatiable appetite” of Britain and other European countries to sell large quantities of advanced weapons to some specific countries in the region, while knowing very well that using such armaments is in violation of international law, particularly humanitarian law.
“Therefore, it is them who must be held accountable before the oppressed people of the region and the international community for the upsurge in instability and insecurity in the region,” he said.
Khatibzadeh stressed that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s defense program is non-negotiable and the country does not require others’ permission to develop its defensive capabilities.
On Saturday, Iran’s vice president for parliamentary affairs reacted to Britain’s “outrage”, saying time has passed since the UK was “unbridled” in the region.
“The anger of Britain, which was once unbridled in the region, at the authority of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is understandable, but they must inevitably accept that time has passed,” Seyyed Muhammad Husseini tweeted.