TEHRAN -- A top Iranian military official warned on Saturday of a “heavy price” for aggressors, after a report of U.S. and Israeli plans for possible military drills to prepare for possible strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites if diplomacy fails.
“Providing conditions for military commanders to test Iranian missiles with real targets will cost the aggressors a heavy price,” Nournews, affiliated with Iran’s top security body, said on Twitter, citing an unnamed military official.
A senior U.S. official was quoted on Thursday as saying that U.S. and Zionist military chiefs were expected to discuss possible military exercises that would prepare for a worst-case scenario against Iran should diplomacy fail and if their leaders request it.
The saber-rattling comes amid the Vienna talks between Iran and the P4+1 group of countries to remove U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
However, 11 months after Joe Biden was sworn in as president, the U.S. is still refusing to remove the sanctions, despite his pledge to undo the wrongs of his predecessor which imposed the most draconian sanctions ever on Iran.
The Biden administration, instead, has doubled down on the coercive measures and imposed new sanctions on Iran.
A State Department spokesperson said on Thursday the United States would send a senior government delegation to the United Arab Emirates next week to meet with banks over concerns about Iran sanctions compliance.
The move suggests Washington is looking to crank up economic pressure on Tehran. It also comes as the UAE, a U.S. ally, works to improve ties with neighbor Iran.
On Friday, U.S. lawmakers approved a bill targeting Iran’s drone capabilities
In a statement, Gregory W. Meeks, head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced the passage of the Stop Iranian Drones Act (SIDA), which would impose a ban on the supply, sale or transfer of military drones to or from Iran under U.S. law. The SIDA bill, proposed earlier in the week by a group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the House, addressed what it claimed to be the growing threat of Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program.
In the statement, Meeks accused Iran of conducting drone attacks in the Middle East, saying “such activity will not be tolerated by the U.S. Congress and is actively being addressed by the Biden administration”.
Iranian officials have repeatedly stressed that the Islamic Republic will not hesitate to build up its defense capabilities, which are entirely meant for the purpose of defense.
Amid the American and Israeli threats, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) launched 110 new navy speedboats in Bandar Abbas at the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, capable of launching ship-to-ship missiles.
IRGC chief Major General Hussein Salami chaired ceremonies, saying that the launch was the seventh time this year new vessels and weapons systems were added to the navy.
“We are expanding our defensive power under the guidance of Leader” of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, he said.
General Salami said in order to “live free and independent”, Iran needs to be powerful. He said if Iran was not powerful, the Muslim countries in the region would have been dominated and destroyed by the enemies.
Iran, the general said, is determined “to increase its power on a daily basis”.
The new speedboats are highly maneuverable, and are equipped with missile and rocket launchers as well as surveillance and reconnaissance devices.
General Salami said Iran’s advanced naval vessels have a high destructive power to defend the country in terms of range, speed, accuracy, adding their construction has progressed from rocket launchers to missile launchers.
“These missiles are precision-guided and their range has increased from 10 kilometers to a strategic range that will be announced soon,” he said.
IRGC Navy chief Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said the new speedboats have been developed by local experts and can reach speeds of 75-90 knots (138-166 km/h).
He said all military equipment for the boats, including missiles, rockets, and radar systems, have been manufactured by IRGC specialists.
Last month, Tangsiri said Iranian forces have “slapped” the Americans six times during confrontations in the Persian Gulf over the past 18 months.
Speaking to a gathering of Basij students at the former US embassy compound in Tehran on November 20, the IRGC Navy chief commander was apparently referring to the period since the U.S. assassination of Iran’s legendary commander General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.