General Salami: IRGC Tests New Missile

Date: 24 August 2019 - 22:06

News ID: ۶۹۶۹۰

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran has test-fired a new missile, chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hussein Salami said on Saturday.
"Our country is always the arena for testing a variety of defense and strategic systems and these are non-stop movements towards the growth of our deterrent power,” Salami said. "And yesterday was one of the successful days for this nation.”
He did not provide any additional information about the missile.
Iran displayed as a domestically built long-range, surface-to-air missile air defense system on Thursday. The launch came after the IRGC shot down an intruding U.S. military surveillance drone in the Persian Gulf with a surface-to-air missile in June.
Deputy Defense Minister General Qassem Taqizadeh said Iran posses "very accurate missiles which we have not publicized".
"We manufacture missiles limited to (what is needed to address) threats, and for now, we know that they are within 1800 km of us. We have, however, increased their precision. Long gone is the time when we were making Shahab 1 missiles,” he said.
The Shahab 1 missile is among Iran’s first indigenously-made missiles, laying the foundation of Iran’s long-range missile program.
Detailing Iran’s doctrine of deterrence, Taqizadeh said, "The Americans know well that we don't have to go to New York and confront them."
"Today there are tens of thousands of Americans in the region and due to this, the Leader said that they will not engage in war with us,” he added.
General Salami addressed recent developments in the Persian Gulf, saying that "security in the Persian Gulf is in the powerful hands of the Islamic Republic of Iran and our enemies will not be able to scar it in any way”.
He also went on to describe U.S. sanctions targeting the country as an "opportunity” for independent development in the country.
"The enemy believed that the sanctions could disable our economy and drag us to the negotiating table, but it was the opposite which occurred,” he said.
The U.S. had pledged to impose a campaign of "maximum pressure” and reduce Iran’s oil exports to "zero” as part of sanctions reinstated after leaving the 2015 landmark nuclear deal last year.
Tensions have since escalated, with the U.S. military announcing the deployment of additional military forces in the region in early May, citing alleged "threats” from Iran.
Several oil tankers have been targeted near the Persian Gulf region in the past months, with Washington and its ally Saudi Arabia quickly blaming Iran for the attacks.
Tehran has rejected any involvement, saying the incidents appear to be false flags meant to frame the Islamic Republic.
Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi on Saturday praised Iran’s military achievements and said recent advances in the country’s defense industry are a manifestation of the strategic belief that "we can”.
"The defense industries are a symbol of the country’s industrial independence and show that by utilizing lofty thoughts and ideas, especially those of the youths… we can guarantee economic, industrial and agricultural independence in all areas.”