Iran made several interesting military claims in September 2018, as reported by PressTV.
The most significant is probably the claim that the US would lose any war it starts with Iran. On September 14th, Brigadier General Hossein Salami, the IRGC’s second-in-command, said in a speech that Washington knows “it will be on the losing side if it ever starts a war with Iran and [this will] help further increase Iran’s influence.”
“The US military is incapable of engaging us in a battle and the American economy wouldn’t be able to support the war either,” he added.
He also said that the recent IRGC missile attack against Iraq-based militants was a clear warning to Iran’s adversaries. It showed that even the slightest violations to the Islamic Republic’s sovereignty would be decisive.
Salami also claimed that that all US plans to isolate Iran had backfired and many countries were now following Iran’s model of resistance against the US, Israel and other “bullying powers.”
“The Iranian nation defeated the US when it blocked America’s ‘New Middle East’ project,” Salami said. The Iranian nation, he added, also caused US plan to retake control over the Islamic world to fail, as cited by PressTV.
The US, according to the Brigadier General also suffered major defeats in Palestine, Syria and the rest of the Middle East.
On September 9th, Former defense minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi says Iran’s own version of the S-300 missile system is more precise than the Russian type.
According to Vahidi, after the Russians initially refused to deliver the S-300, Iran started to build its own prototype based on the long-range Russian air defense system.
“We told them that we will build the system ourselves indigenously, and ultimately, by God’s grace and through the diligence of the Iranian youth and elite, we built a better version in less than six years,” said Vahidi, who is currently the president of the Supreme National Defense University.
“Today, the Islamic Republic has the main say in the West Asia region, and Iran’s discourse dominates,” Vahidi said.
The rhetoric, however, is not one of “force and hegemony,” he added. “We are not trying to subject Iraq and Syria to hegemony, and do not seek to add even a palm’s length of soil to the country’s territory.”
“Our discourse features extrication of humanity,” the commander said, adding that thanks to the efforts of the country’s researchers and elite “no door would remain closed to the country.”
Prior to that, on September 1st, Iran’s Deputy Defense Minister for International Affairs Second Brigadier General Mohammad Ahadi, during a meeting with foreign military attachés residing in Tehran, said that Iran plans to boost the capabilities of its ballistic and cruise missiles.
“Increasing the capabilities of various types of ballistic and cruise missiles, the acquisition of a new generation of fighter jets as well as … vessels and submarines with various weapons capabilities are among the new plans of the ministry,” Ahadi said.
He further added that United Nations Security Council sanctions against the country had failed to stop the development of Iran’s defense industry.
“We have the necessary infrastructure and what we need to do is research and development while upgrading and keeping updated the defense industry. To that end, we are relying on the country’s very high scientific capacities and tens of thousands of graduates in different technical and engineering majors,” Ahadi pointed out.
He also added that Iran’s defense diplomacy is open to interactions with all nations, with the exception of Israel. Ahadi further added that the Islamic Republic aims to promote peace and security in the region and across the world and prevent any crisis.
The official further noted that Iran enjoys good defense and security relations with regional countries, saying close cooperation with neighboring states is a priority.
In addition to that, the Drive cited Iranian Air Defense Force Brigadier General Mahmoud Ebrahiminejad, Deputy Commander of the Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base who said that Iran had successfully tested its Bavar 373 long-range surface-to-air missile system in a ballistic missile defense role. The successful tests took place in 2017. The Bavar 373 has been under development since at least 2011 and it was announced that its initial operational evaluation had been completed in January 2018.
As reported by PressTV, Iran has, in recent years, made major breakthroughs in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in manufacturing military equipment and hardware, despite sanctions.
Iran also, on August 13th, revealed the Fateh Mobin missile, which is a new generation of precision-guided missiles capable of striking ground and seaborne targets in surgical operations.
The boost in missile capabilities was mentioned as early as August 19th. That is when Brigadier General Amir Hatami announced the unveiling of Iran’s new fighter jet and claimed that the country has no choice but to improve its defensive capabilities.
“We will spare no efforts to preserve the defense power and will develop it,” the Iranian defense minister said, adding, “We have no other way because they (the enemies) want to disarm us.”
All of this comes after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned the US leader not to “play with the lion’s tail” after the US unveiled a series of economic and political measures which Tehran said amounted to a declaration of war. To that Donald Trump threatened Iran with “consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before.” This all followed Trump’s unilateral decision to withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal and reintroduced sanctions, some of which have already come into effect, with others incoming by the end of 2018.
