Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard fired more than a dozen surface-to-surface ballistic missiles during an exercise this week, the official IRNA news agency reported on Friday.
The report said the Guards fired 16 missiles during an ongoing major military drill across the country’s south.
It said the missiles were of the models Emad, Ghadr, Sejjil, Zalzal, Dezful and Zolfaghar and that their range is from 350 to 2000 kilometers (220 to 1250 miles).
The short-range and medium-range missiles, Iran has said, can reach Israel as well as US bases in the region.
Iranian officials said the missiles fired during the drill successfully hit one target at the same time as 10 drones simultaneously hit their targets. State TV showed missiles launching in the desert.
Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, said the planned drill was an answer to Israel’s recent “massive but pointless threats” against Iran.
“This was a tiny part of hundreds of missiles that can hit any hostile target simultaneously,” he said.
Bagheri further warned Israel against making the “slightest mistake,” according to Press TV.
Otherwise “we will cut off their hands,” Bagheri said, adding that a drill could be converted easily into a military operation. It’s just a “change in the angle of launching the missiles.”
During the second day of the drill on Tuesday, Iran launched cruise missiles, too.
The five-day annual exercise that began on Monday comes amid troubled talks in Vienna to revive Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers. Iran has accelerated its nuclear advances as negotiations to return to the accord struggle to make headway. The talks will resume on Monday.
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