AFP: Iran’s military has the capacity to strike American interests in the Middle East to a range of 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles), a top general in the elite Revolutionary Guards warned on Monday. TEHRAN (AFP) Iran’s military has the capacity to strike American interests in the Middle East to a range of 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles), a top general in the elite Revolutionary Guards warned on Monday.
“Today the Americans are around our country but this does not mean that they are encircling us. They are encircled themselves and are within our range,” General Mohammad Hassan Koussechi told the official IRNA news agency.
“If the United States is saying that they have identified 2,000 targets in Iran, then what is certain is that it is the Americans who are all around Iran and are equally our targets.
“Today… we have reached capacities that allow us to hit the enemy at a range of 2,000 kilometres,” added Koussechi, who is co-commander of the elite force in the west of Iran.
His comments came after French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the world should brace for possible war amid growing tensions over Iran’s controversial nuclear programme.
The new head of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jaafari, warned the United States last week that Tehran has identified its “weak points” in neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan.
Iran has always insisted it would never initiate any attack but has warned of the magnitude of its response to any aggression against its territory.
Tehran has an array of medium-range missiles and claims that its longer-range Shahab-3 missile has a reach of 2,000 kilometres which would put Israel and US bases on the Arabian Peninsula within reach.
