Iran fired two missiles into Indian Ocean earlier this year
TEHRANTIMES - Iran fired two long-range missiles into the Indian Ocean earlier this year, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Division announced on Saturday. “During the (Iranian calendar) month of Bahman (Jan. 21-Feb. 19), we fired two missiles with a range of 1900 kilometers from the Semnan desert to the entrance of the Indian Ocean, and U.S. warships observed them hitting the mock targets,” Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said at a press conference in Tehran.
Since the region is in international airspace, Iran allowed U.S. spy planes to be present, but the U.S. did not release the information they gathered to the public, Hajizadeh noted.
“We have an appropriate space of about 1000 square kilometers in (our) deserts for test-firing missiles… our missile range is at most 2000 kilometers and we do not need (missiles with) a longer range since our targets are within a shorter radius,” he added.
Commenting on the domestically-built missile silos that were unveiled during the first stage of the Great Prophet 6 war games, he said, these silos are used for firing Shahab 1 to 3, Sejjil, and Qiam missiles.
On the country’s land-to-sea missiles, Hajizadeh said Iran has manufactured supersonic missiles that travel faster than cruise missiles.
These missiles cannot be intercepted by current military equipment since this equipment cannot detect or hit supersonic missiles, he added.
Asked about foreign warships present in the Persian Gulf, he said, “The presence of Westerners in the Persian Gulf is not regarded as a threat to Persian Gulf littoral states since they (the Western countries) have bases in those countries. Thus, they deployed the (U.S.) 5th fleet in the Persian Gulf in addition to 100 warships… so that they can maintain their threatening stance toward Iran, and in fact their target is Iran.”
Over 70 percent of U.S. bases in the region are within the range of Iran’s missiles, he said, noting, “We have enough missiles for them, and we are even able to hit more than one of their bases from one base in Iran.”
He also said that the IRGC has manufactured fragmentation warheads, which can be used against targets in the air and on the sea.
Since the region is in international airspace, Iran allowed U.S. spy planes to be present, but the U.S. did not release the information they gathered to the public, Hajizadeh noted.
“We have an appropriate space of about 1000 square kilometers in (our) deserts for test-firing missiles… our missile range is at most 2000 kilometers and we do not need (missiles with) a longer range since our targets are within a shorter radius,” he added.
Commenting on the domestically-built missile silos that were unveiled during the first stage of the Great Prophet 6 war games, he said, these silos are used for firing Shahab 1 to 3, Sejjil, and Qiam missiles.
On the country’s land-to-sea missiles, Hajizadeh said Iran has manufactured supersonic missiles that travel faster than cruise missiles.
These missiles cannot be intercepted by current military equipment since this equipment cannot detect or hit supersonic missiles, he added.
Asked about foreign warships present in the Persian Gulf, he said, “The presence of Westerners in the Persian Gulf is not regarded as a threat to Persian Gulf littoral states since they (the Western countries) have bases in those countries. Thus, they deployed the (U.S.) 5th fleet in the Persian Gulf in addition to 100 warships… so that they can maintain their threatening stance toward Iran, and in fact their target is Iran.”
Over 70 percent of U.S. bases in the region are within the range of Iran’s missiles, he said, noting, “We have enough missiles for them, and we are even able to hit more than one of their bases from one base in Iran.”
He also said that the IRGC has manufactured fragmentation warheads, which can be used against targets in the air and on the sea.