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Iran warns Israel against potential attacks

Xinhua, July 2, 2012

• Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on Sunday warned Israel against any military raid on the Islamic republic and announced that it will hold a missile drill starting on Monday.

  According to Press TV, Commander of the Aerospace Division of the IRGC Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh said "if the Zionist regime (of Israel) makes a (wrong) move, they will give us an excuse to wipe them off the planet."

  Hajizadeh said if Israel wants to attack Iran, it should seek the support of Washington, but the commander doubts the United States will "cooperate with this regime" as its bases are within the range of Iran's weapons and missiles.

  He also announced that Iran plans to unveil, in the near future, a new ballistic missile with a range of 300 km, which is able to travel at a speed over three times as fast as the sound, said Press TV.

  The projectile will have the capacity of targeting defense shields and radar systems and hitting Israel's anti-missile system, Hajizadeh was quoted as saying.

  Some Western countries and Israel suspect Iran's nuclear program is aiming for weapon-grade purposes, an allegation denied by Tehran, and the United States and Israel have not ruled out the possibility to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

  Also on Sunday, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported that the IRGC will hold a missile drill starting Monday.

  The maneuver, dubbed "Great Prophet 7", will last for three days, said the report.

  The surface-to-surface missile drill will be conducted by the aerospace division of the IRGC and will be staged in different parts of the country.

  Hajizadeh told reporters that in the drill, more than 100 hypothesized spots in the central desert area of the country will be targeted by various kinds of short-range, medium-range and long-range missiles.

  The hypothesized targets are similar to the air bases of some countries, the commander said.

  Meanwhile, the Iranian commanders warned against any invasion of country on Saturday.

  Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces for Cultural Affairs and Defense Publicity, Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri, warned that Iran would revenge any enemy invasion with massive aggressive response.

  "If we are attacked, we will retaliate with (a counter) attack . .. and we have even planned for multi-dimensional and massive attacks if necessary," Jazayeri said.

  Jazzayeri underlined that security of Iran and its friends is of vital importance to Tehran, adding that, "in case this security is threatened, Iran will certainly show the necessary and a very serious reaction."

  Also, Deputy Commander of the IRGC Ground Force for Operations, Brigadier General Morteza Miriyan, said "today all enemy bases are within the reach of our missiles. There was a time when they fought against us at the country's borders, but today we can fight them several thousand kilometers away."

  Miriyan stressed Iran's ability to produce its needed military capabilities, and noted that Iran is fully self-sufficient in combat capability.

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