Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (FNA)- The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said Monday it had successfully test-fired a naval weapon which could destroy any vessel within a range of 300 kilometers (190 miles).
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has recently tested a naval weapon with a 300 km range in which no vessel would be safe and would be sent to the depths,” IRGC Commander-in-Chief Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said.
He said that the home-made weapon system is “unique in the world” and introduces a state-of-the-art technology never used before.
“The design and production technology used in this weapon is completely indigenous to Iran and has never been employed by any other country,” Jafari said but did not give details.
The new weapon’s range indicated it may be some type of torpedo or a missile.
Jafari’s comment came after Iran test-fired various types of long and short ranges missiles during a military exercise in the Persian Gulf aimed at increasing readiness of the country’s military forces against possible threats.
Iran concluded its Great Prophet III war games last month, which featured Tehran’s new long- and medium-range missiles capable of hitting targets inside Israel.
To show their readiness to defend the country, the IRGC troops test-fired missiles and torpedoes in the Persian Gulf, including a new Shahab 3 missile with a range of 2,012 kilometers.
The Iranian war games and missile tests are viewed as a strong response to intensified threats by the Zionist regime and the United States.
Iran and the West are locked in a standoff over the country’s nuclear program, which the US and its allies allege to be aimed at making nuclear weapons, while they don’t have any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations.
Iran denies the charge and says the program is only for producing electricity.
Both the US and Israel have stressed that military action is a main options to deter Iran’s nuclear progress.
Speculation that Israel could bomb Iran has mounted since a big Israeli air drill last month. In the first week of June, 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters reportedly took part in an exercise over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece, which was interpreted as a dress rehearsal for a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear installations.
Tehran has vowed to strike back at Israel as well as US interests and military bases and shipping if it came under attack.
US forces are stationed in several countries around the Persian Gulf, including Bahrain where the US Navy Fifth Fleet is based. Iran says US forces are in range of its weapons.
Around 40 percent of globally traded oil leaves the region through the Strait of Hormuz, a choke point at the southern end of the Persian Gulf, flanked by the coastlines of Iran and Oman.
General Jafari warned enemies against military aggressions, saying that in case of a possible strike on Iran, the country will respond in every way it can.
The enemy, he said, would prefer to make the duration of the war as short as possible.
But, “we will prolong it”, the senior Iranian military commander said.
He also reiterated an earlier expressed warning by Tehran that Iran could block the narrow Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf in case it was attacked.
“Enemies know that we are easily able to block the Strait of Hormuz for unlimited period”, he said. “The strait and vessels are in range of our various weapons.”
“In view of the proximity of the Strait of Hormuz … to our shores, this distance is within the range of an assortment of weapons and its closure for us is very feasible and we face no limitations from the point of view of time,” Jafari said.
