Economic Scenarios

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have armed the Navy with new missiles and drones

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have added long-range missiles and drones to its navy, official media said on Friday, amid heightened regional tension after the killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran blamed on Israel.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the ideological arm of the Iranian military that has ties to Tehran-aligned armed groups across the Middle East, played a key role in the Islamic Republic's first direct attack on Israel in April.

Iranian state TV on Friday said “a large number of new anti-ship cruise missiles have been added to the IRGC naval forces on the orders of the Guard chief.”

The missiles “have new capabilities” with “high explosive warheads and are untraceable,” he added, all claims to be proven, but disturbing nonetheless.

According to the report, a total of 2,654 military systems, including long- and medium-range missiles, combat and reconnaissance drones, and electronic warfare units, have been added to the Guards' naval forces.

IRGC chief General Hossein Salami, speaking at an event where some of the new weapons systems were unveiled, stressed the importance of being able to “stop the enemy from afar”.

Iranian missile launch from merchant ship From the war zone

“If we cannot confront the enemy in the depths of the sea and oceans at any desired point and stop the enemy from afar, we will naturally have problems at our national borders,” he said.

“In today's world, you have to be strong to survive and be safe, or give up. There is no middle ground."

The presentation of weapons came as the region, already affected by the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza since early October, was on high alert after Iran and its allies vowed retaliation for the killing, week last, by Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Israel, blamed by the Palestinian militant group, the Islamic Republic and others for the attack, has not claimed responsibility.

After Haniyeh's killing, Iranian officials and military commanders vowed to take action against Israel, while calls for regional de-escalation grew.

The fact of having publicized the strengthening of the navy on the one hand underlines the defensive capabilities of the Revolutionary Guards, but on the other hand they are also a subtle threat to the traffic that travels through the Persian Gulf and leaves the Strait of Hormuz

Iran's interim Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri told AFP on Thursday that Israel had made "a strategic mistake" and should "pay a price" for Tehran's attack.

Iran supports Hamas and has repeatedly praised the group's October 7 attack that sparked the Gaza war, while denying any direct involvement.

A series of escalations since the start of the war, involving Iranian allies in Lebanon, Yemen and other parts of the Middle East, led Tehran to fire hundreds of missiles and rockets directly at Israel in April.

The October 7 attack on southern Israel killed 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data.

Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,699 people, according to the Hamas-run territory's Ministry of Health, which provides no details on civilian and militant deaths.


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The article The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have armed the Navy with new missiles and drones comes from Economic Scenarios .


This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/le-guardie-rivoluzionarie-iraniane-hanno-armato-con-nuovi-missili-e-droni-la-marina/ on Sun, 11 Aug 2024 08:00:41 +0000.