TEHRAN – Iran’s armed forces see no restraints to safeguarding the national interests and protecting the nation, Defense Minister Brigadier General Muhammad Reza Ashtiani said here Wednesday.
“We see no limitations in defending our national interests and the people, and will certainly do this authoritatively. No matter where threats against the Islamic Republic come from, we will react and the response will surely be proportionate, decisive and strong,” he said.
“We condemn terrorism anywhere in the world. We will definitely respond to any action meant to violate our nation’s rights, as well as any act of terror targeting people. We have already demonstrated this forcefully, and see no limits in this regard,” he added.
The Iranian defense minister went on to say that the Islamic Republic respects the sovereignty, interests, rights and regulations as well as the territorial integrity of other countries, especially neighbors.
It, however, won’t allow anyone to cause mischief on its borders and will deal with any such move, Ashtiani emphasized.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said the force “successfully” launched missile attacks on an espionage center of the Israeli regime’s Mossad spy agency in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and a gathering place of commanders and main elements linked to anti-Iran terrorist activities, especially the Daesh terrorist group, in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib.
The statement said a total of 24 ballistic missiles were fired during the operation, all of which precisely hit and destroyed the designated targets.
The IRGC said the force fired four Kheibar Shekan (fortress buster) missiles from Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan to Idlib, adding that four missiles were launched from the west, and seven more from the northwest of the country to the Mossad spy headquarters in Erbil in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.
Elsewhere in his remarks on Wednesday, Ashtani noted that the Iranian armed forces are in possession of various types of indigenously developed and manufactured missiles, describing third-generation long-range Kheibar Shekan missile as a sophisticated armament that is brought into play whenever necessary. “We are a missile power in the world,” he said.
He said Iranian experts have made major strides in the development and production of different kinds of missiles, either cruise or ballistic, as well as military equipment.
Ashtiani also stated that Iranian and Russian military officials are in close contact with each other, and that his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu has reaffirmed his country’s respect for Iran’s security, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
“We have a strategic relationship with Russia. I think they are also serious about it, and have pledged to comply with the matter,” the Iranian defense minister said.