![IRGC commanders walk along an underground corridor inside a new naval missile base on January 9. [IRGC]](/cnmi_am/images/2021/01/12/27904-irgcbase-700_496.webp)
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) last week unveiled a new strategic missile base during an unusual closed door ceremony, the latest in a string of moves by the regime that threaten world commerce passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Even though regime reporters typically attend such unveilings, the IRGC denied the press and public access to this ceremony, making it impossible to verify if this was a new or existing base.
The base, reportedly situated somewhere in the Gulf, houses "one of multiple sets of storage equipment for the IRGC Navy's strategic missiles", Sepah News, the IRGC's media outlet, quoted IRGC Commander Hossein Salami as saying on January 8.
"There are multiple [storage] compounds similar to this one within the IRGC Navy," Salami added. "You can see an entire row of missiles along with their launching systems. The row goes on for kilometres."
![Members of the IRGC standing next to trucks apparently filled with missiles inside a new naval base near the Gulf. [IRGC]](/cnmi_am/images/2021/01/12/27905-missilebase-700_496.webp)
Members of the IRGC standing next to trucks apparently filled with missiles inside a new naval base near the Gulf. [IRGC]
"These missiles are precision guided and accurate, with ranges of hundreds of kilometres. They are highly destructive and can pass through the enemy's electronic [defences]," he said.
The IRGC, however, has a long history of boasting about its weaponry, and a track record of deficient missile and radar systems, many dilapidated or, if new, assembled with sub-par Russian or Chinese material.
The tragic January 8, 2020, incident in which the IRGC accidentally shot down a Ukraine-bound passenger jet shortly after it took off from Tehran is only the latest in a string of high-profile errors.
These errors date back to at least 2011, when several top IRGC personnel died in an explosion linked to Iran's missile development programme.
Revenge rhetoric
Since early December, the Iranian regime issued a stream of threats, calling to avenge the assassinations of nuclear mastermind Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.
IRGC intelligence came under fire after Fakhrizadeh's assassination. His death, added to the killings of several other Iranian nuclear scientists in recent years, several explosions in sensitive military bases, and the theft of sensitive nuclear and missile programme documents from a nuclear facility in Iran, has prompted a deluge of criticism of Iran's intelligence capabilities.
Isolated and on the brink of economic collapse due to rampant corruption, gross mismanagement and biting US sanctions, the Iranian regime is grappling with the threat of civil uprising amid severe stagnation and hyperinflation.
The government's income has plummeted from obstacles to its sale of oil.
Meanwhile, Iran has started the process to enrich uranium to 20% purity at its underground Fordow facility, state media reported January 4, going well beyond the threshold set by the 2015 nuclear deal.
It is the latest and most important suspension of nuclear commitments by Iran under the landmark deal.
Iran is progressing "quite rapidly" in enrichment activities and is expected to reach monthly production of 10kg of 20% enriched uranium at its Fordow facility, Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Monday (January 11).
Recent US sorties over Gulf waters and the deployment of additional materiel, most recently the January 7 flyover of B-52 bombers, come within the framework of preparing for any potential offensive action by Iran or its militia groups.
The salient point that is never mentioned is that the Iranian regime has done things in its past 40 years of reign over the people that no occupying country has ever done, from looting people's property to repeated violations of rights and even sexual assault, which is a common phenomenon in Iranian prisons. Moreover, the regime has also squandered the Iranian people's wealth in the region. Iran is an occupied country. I have seen that on some occasions they frighten people of war. As an Iranian, however, I say war would be a divine blessing for the Iranian people. For, [through war] at least they will be freed from the aggressor, that is the Islamic Republic. As someone who has one vote, I have written time and again that I agree with a military strike on Iran since, at the very least, we will be rid of the Islamic Republic. After that, God is great.
Reply5 Comment(s)
First, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are nothing but trained gangs supported by a regime that is only concerned with its ambitions in Bab al-Mandab Strait and with hegemony over the Arab Gulf states to make them subjects to it. Second, the Iranian regime is under pressures from all sides, internally and externally, from its own people and big states. Those big states believe that the Iranian regime is seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction, enrich uranium up to 20% purity, and possess heavy water. That regime poses a threat to the region and shows its force there. Third, if the military option becomes the last option, America won’t be alone; rather, other big states, and NATO, which was created to be the long arm of big states, will be with it. NATO is a joint army of the world’s strongest states that are capable of crushing the IRGC with as less losses as to them possible. After that, the Gulf states will undertake to pay the cost of war multifold.
ReplyThe Gulf countries are only good at paying money to the West and showing their force against poor countries, like the beloved Yemen. They have made no achievements except killing old people, women and children. As to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, it’s enough honour for them that the super powers unite to confront them. This is a proof of the Guards’ greatness. As to you Arabians, you say that Iran is a threat to the Arab world while it’s the only country now that is arming Palestinians and supporting the Palestinian cause. When Shah was governing Iran, it was following the model of America, and the ‘traitor’ of the two Holy Mosques, that alcohol abuser, would sit at the feet of Pahlavi (the Shiite). You can verify my words; at that time Pahlavi was the policeman of the East. He governed the Arab countries with his shoes.
What I want to say is that you’re a subservient, humiliated nation that accepts that the land of the First Qebla be defiled with the Zionists and that the Arabs’ wealth be stolen by the Americans and Zionists. What have the Gulf states done? They have sent terrorists who blew themselves up in Syria and Lebanon. If half of them had blown themselves up against the Zionists, Palestine would have been liberated. Instead of striking Yemen, if Saudi Arabia supported the Palestinians like Iran, the Palestinian resistance would have become much stronger. However, most Arab rulers are dogs to America; they’re only concerned with their seats and are prepar
ReplyEvery [unintelligible] [unintelligible] America is capable of striking us with nuclear weapons and can do whatever it wants. However, every occupier has an end. Ask your masters, the Israelis, what happened to them. Ask the Americans what happened to them in Iraq, or the Russians in Kabul. There are so many other examples. Do you want to [unintelligible]? We have seen you in Iraq, Sudan, Yemen, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Pakistan and many other countries. You’re people without dignity or honour. Lot's People are more honourable than your mothers. The shoes have more dignity than your parents. You’re traitors, from the days of the Battle of Badr and Battle of Hunayn until now, [unintelligible]. Allah’s prayers be upon Mohammed and the Family of Mohammed! O, God, make haste with the advent of our Master! There’s always tomorrow. One day, we’ll pray in al-Quds! Palestine is Arab!
Reply5 Comment(s)
Well. Is Iran even capable of building missiles at all? Do the beasts of the so-called Islamic Republic even know what militarism is? So far, I regularly see photos of Soleimani and others on websites. When it comes to military value, they did not matter at all. A seemingly well-informed man named Molavi Vardanjani was assassinated in Turkey by Khamenei's savages. One of his pieces of information - and probably the one for which he was assassinated - was that killings of IRGC savages such as Soleimani and … or the so-called nuclear scientists are done by the mullahs themselves. Why? It is done with the purpose in mind of domestic and regional propaganda.
Reply5 Comment(s)