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Iranian commander says missiles being tested are intended for Israel
A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander yesterday confirmed that ballistic missiles which have recently been tested, in breach of United Nations (UN) Security Council resolutions, are intended for use against Israel.
This week, Iranian state television showed images of missiles, which the report claimed was medium-range Qiam-1 missiles, being fired from a variety of underground locations. Later images showed that the missiles were marked with the words “Israel must be wiped out” in Hebrew. The Iranian Fars news agency yesterday quoted Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division, who candidly said, “The 2,000-kilometre (1,240-mile) range of our missiles is to confront the Zionist regime [Israel],” adding that “Israel is surrounded by Islamic countries and it will not last long in a war. It will collapse even before being hit by these missiles.”
This week’s tests are the third ballistic missile tests since Tehran signed a long-term nuclear agreement with the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) in July. Related nuclear sanctions on Iran were lifted in January. In October, Iran’s Defence Minister Hossein Dehgan confirmed that the Emad (pillar) precision-guided surface to surface missile had been successfully tested and in November, Iran tested the Ghadr-110, which has a range of 1,200 miles, and is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
Such tests are a breach of UN Security Council Resolution 1929, passed in 2010, which bans Iran from any ballistic missile development capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using ballistic missile technology. It is also a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, passed the day after July’s accord was signed, which compels Iran to refrain from any work on ballistic missiles for eight years.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry yesterday released a statement saying that Iran is “defying” the international community and that “Iran’s surface-to-surface missile program must be stopped,” especially as it “raises a big question about Iran’s intentions to comply fully with its part of the nuclear deal.”