TEHRAN (Dispatches) — Iran on Sunday fielded a "massive" number of new long-range missile launchers, with a strong warning against any possible attack on the country.
The new weapon components delivered to Iranian military units would allow them to "crush the enemy" with the mass simultaneous fire of long-range surface-to-surface missiles, Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi said.
TV showed footage of him inspecting two dozen launch trucks without missiles at an outdoor site.
Vahidi underlined the defensive nature of the country's military power. "The Islamic Iran does not want a war with anyone and will never initiate a war and conflict. Yet, it will not allow anyone to make an aggression or take a hostile action and will mightily crush any invading enemy and will make it regretful of its action," Vahidi stated.
Some of Iran's surface-to-surface missiles are estimated to have ranges of over 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles), capable of hitting Zionist targets and the U.S. bases in the region.
Facing a Western military embargo, Iran is pursuing a program for military self-sufficiency, producing weapons ranging from light submarines and jet fighters to torpedoes and missiles.
Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) aerospace force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said Iran is now enjoying the highest level of military deterrence.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the ceremony to supply long-range ground-to-ground missile launchers to the IRGC aerospace force, Hajizadeh said the Iranian armed forces have elevated their military preparedness to confront potential threats.
"Today, we are experiencing the best state of the military deterrence and no power in the world is capable of confronting and hurting the Islamic Iran," Hajizadeh said.
Meanwhile, a senior legislator underlined the Iranian armed forces' capabilities to hunt down alien Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), and said the Iranian type of the U.S. drone which was tracked and hunted down in Iran late in 2011 will have its first flight in the near future.
Iran announced in December 2011 that its defense forces had downed a U.S. RQ-170 aircraft through a sophisticated cyber attack. The drone was the first such loss by the U.S. American officials have described the loss of the aircraft in Iran as a setback and a fatal blow to the stealth drone program.
"The brave personnel of the armed forces hunted down the drone with their knowledge and science and the Americans protested immediately and called for the return of the UAV," chairman of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi said in the northern city of Rasht on Saturday night.
Iran has downed several U.S. drones so far and Boroujerdi did not mention which one he meant, but explained, "The reverse engineering started immediately (by the Iranian experts after hunting down the U.S. UAV) and the Iranian type of the U.S. drone will fly in Iran's Aerospace Organization soon which shows the Islamic Republic's might and power."
Boroujerdi's remarks most likely refer to RQ-170. The drone has special coatings and a batwing shape designed to help it penetrate other nations' air defenses undetected. The existence of the aircraft, which is made by Lockheed Martin, has been known since 2009, when a model was photographed at the main U.S. airfield in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
The unmanned surveillance plane lost by the United States in Iran was a stealth aircraft being used for secret missions by the CIA, U.S. officials admitted in December. The aircraft is among the highly sensitive surveillance platform in the CIA's fleet that was shaped and designed to evade enemy defenses.
Iran has downed many other U.S. drones as well, and they have always started reproducing them after conducting reverse engineering on them.
On December 4, commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi announced that his forces had hunted a U.S. drone over the Persian Gulf after the drone violated the country's airspace, adding that the hunted UAV was a ScanEagle drone.
Iran has recently made giant advancements in aerospace industries, especially in designing and manufacturing pilotless drones.
In April, the Iranian air defense force displayed its Sarir (Throne) drones on the occasion of the National Army Day.
Speaking to reporters at the time, commander of Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmayeeli stated that Sarir was a long-range, long-endurance radar evading air defense drone.
"Sarir is capable of carrying cameras and air-to-air missiles and tens of this UAV have so far been produced and used," he added.
Also earlier this month, Iran displayed its most advanced UAV designed and manufactured by the country's engineers.
The stealth drone, named Hemaseh (Epic), was unveiled in a special ceremony in the presence of Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi.
The ceremony was held on the sidelines of a conference to commemorate the defense ministry's martyrs.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the ceremony, Vahidi stated that the drone has been built by defense industry experts and is capable of conducting surveillance and reconnaissance missions as well as combat missions simultaneously.
Earlier, Deputy Defense Minister for industrial and research affairs Muhammad Eslami told reporters that Hemaseh enjoys higher capabilities compared with other Iran-made UAVs and can fly at higher altitudes and enjoys longer flight endurance.
