Iranian air defense forces began on Sunday five days of maneuvers named the Sky of Velayat 2 involving simulated attacks on the country’s nuclear sites, state-owned Press TV and Al-Alam television channels reported. The maneuvers were announced on Saturday by Brigadier General Ahmad Mighani, head of army air defense, who said the main aim is to thwart aerial threats on Iran’s nuclear facilities — from reconnaissance to actual assault — posed by an imaginary enemy.
The war games would also help improve cooperation among different units, he added. “Due to the threats against our nuclear facilities it is our duty to defend our nation’s vital facilities and thus this maneuver covers Bushehr, Fars, Isfahan, Tehran and western provinces,” Mighani said. “Our unit will be in charge of the maneuver but there will be units from the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij (militia),” he added.
The large-scale maneuver, which is said to be Iran’s biggest yet, is mainly aimed at developing the country’s aerial defenses against any potential attack on the country’s nuclear plants.
Meanwhile, a senior IRGC official warned that Iranian missiles will be on their marks to target the very heart of Tel Aviv in the event of a military attack on the Islamic Republic. “If the enemy tries its luck and fires a missile into Iran, our ballistic missiles would zero in on Tel Aviv before the dust settles on the attack,” said Mojtaba Zolnour, the representative of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, in the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
Zolnour, who was speaking in a Saturday interview with the IRNA news agency, said enemy countries should keep in mind that Iran’s military capabilities have made great strides due to the efforts of Iranian experts.
On Sunday, a commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that Tehran’s air defense forces would “annihilate” Israeli warplanes if they attacked the Islamic republic. “Their (Israeli) F-15 and F-16 fighters will be trapped by our air defense forces and will be annihilated,” Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who heads the air force wing of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, told Fars news agency.
“Even if their planes escape, they will be struck by our destructive surface-to-surface missiles before they land at the bases they took off from.”
News/Sources:
1. Al Manar,Lebanese Media News Outlet
