Iranian Commander Warns US against Any Wrongdoing in Regional Waters

Addressing a gathering in the northwestern city of Tabriz on Tuesday night, Brigadier General Hossein Nejat highlighted the country’s military achievements and said Iran, which used to import weapons from foreign countries and hosted 5,000 American military advisers before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has now come to a point where it can produce short and long-range missiles.

The enemies do not have the capability to counter the missiles, the IRGC commander added.

If the US Navy vessels in the region make any wrongdoing, Iranian missiles can hit even their aircraft carriers, he stressed.

Brigadier General Nejat also warned regional Arab states and said if any attack against the Islamic Republic is mounted from a neighboring Arab country, the missiles will target all their bases.

The remarks came against the backdrop of increased tensions between Iran and the US after the Islamic Republic shot down an advanced US spy drone over its territorial waters.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said on June 20 that a US spy drone that violated the Iranian territorial airspace in the early hours of the day was shot down by the IRGC Aerospace Force’s air defense unit near the Kooh-e-Mobarak region in the southern province of Hormozgan.

The intruding drone was reportedly shot by Iran’s homegrown air defense missile system “Khordad-3rd”.

Later on the same day, US President Donald Trump said he had called off a retaliatory attack on a number of targets in Iran and said that he was ready to speak with Iranian leaders and come to an understanding that would allow the country to improve its economic prospects. “What I’d like to see with Iran, I’d like to see them call me.”

“I look forward to the day where we can actually help Iran. We're not looking to hurt Iran,” Trump added.

However, on June 24 Trump announced new sanctions against top Iranian officials, including the office of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, Iran’s foreign minister, and senior commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

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