War games conducted this week by Iran in the Gulf were intended to send a warning to Israel, the country’s top military commanders said on Friday, Reuters reports.
The Revolutionary Guards’ war games included firing ballistic and cruise missiles.
“These exercises had a very clear message: a serious, real … warning to threats by the Zionist regime’s authorities to beware of their mistakes,” Guards chief General Hossein Salami was quoted as having said on state TV.
“We will cut off their hands if they make a wrong move… The distance between actual operations and military exercises is only a change in the angles of launching the missiles,” he threatened.
Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri said 16 ballistic missiles of different classes had been fired simultaneously and had destroyed predetermined targets.
Iran says its ballistic missiles have a range of 2,000 km (1,200 miles) and are capable of reaching Israel and US bases in the region.
Iran has produced several ballistic missiles and aerospace military gear in recent years, raising the ire of the West.
Iran’s ballistic missile tests and satellite launches are a cause of concern for the West and particularly the US which says that Iran’s ballistic missile tests are a violation of UN Security Council resolution 2231.
The resolution, which enshrined the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, says Iran is “called upon” to refrain for up to eight years from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons.
Iranian’s leaders regularly threaten Israel. Last year, Salami said Iran is ready to strike both Israel and the US if they give it any reason to do so.
Previously, he warned in a TV interview that Iran will "raze Tel Aviv to the ground" if it is attacked by the US.
He has also threatened that Iran will destroy US warships if its security is threatened in the Persian Gulf.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)