Iran launches missile drill in response to new sanctions

Iran is not backing down, threatening to retaliate militarily against Trump’s new sanctions against the Islamic Republic. 

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) Aerospace Force launched an air-defense drill on Saturday – a day after the Trump administration slammed new sanctions on Iran following its recent illicit missile test.

The military exercise, codenamed Defenders of Velayat Sanctum, simulated aerial attacks on Iran’s sensitive sites, a top commander said.

The simulated attacks were detected and successfully foiled with domestically produced radars, command and control, and missile systems, he added.

Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, belittled what he called “the futility of foreign threats against Iran,” saying that Iran’s army is ready to defend the country “in case the enemy makes a mistake.”

Hajizadeh derided anti-Iran threats by US officials as “nonsense.”

“With the knowledge I have about the capabilities of the [Iranian] Armed Forces and about ourselves, I’d say with confidence that foreign threats against the Islamic Establishment [Iran] are futile,” he bragged.

“Should the enemy make a mistake, our roaring missiles will rain down on them,” he warned.

The drill comes at a time of renewed US threats and sanctions against Iran. On Friday, the US added 13 Iranian figures and 12 entities to its anti-Iran sanction list.

US National Security Adviser Michael Flynn said the Trump administration will not tolerate what he described as “Iran’s provocations that threaten our interests.”

Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted Friday that his country was “unmoved by threats as we derive security for our people. We’ll never initiate war, but we can only rely on our own means of defense.”

By: World Israel News Staff