Iran’s army
“alone” is able to destroy Israel, army commander General Ataollah
Salehi said on Thursday, responding to boasts by the Jewish state that
its military that could attack its archfoe on its own.
“Our
message to this illegitimate regime (Israel) is the same, we do not need
to utilise all of Iran’s military forces,” Salehi said on the sidelines
of the Islamic republic’s annual Army Day. “The army … alone is able to
destroy Israel.”
His comments come after Israeli chief of staff
Lieutenant General Benny Gantz on Tuesday said the Jewish state’s
military was capable of attacking Iran on its own without foreign
support.
Asked in an interview on public radio if the military
could wage attacks on Iran “alone” — without the support of countries
such as the United States — Gantz replied: “Yes, absolutely.”
Israel
believes the Islamic republic, which has issued many bellicose
statements about the Jewish state, is working to achieve a military
nuclear capability and has not ruled out a military strike to prevent
this happening.
Iran denies it is developing an atomic bomb and
says it needs its nuclear programme of uranium enrichment for peaceful
medical and energy purposes.
Israel is widely believed to be the Middle East’s sole nuclear-armed state, albeit undeclared.
Since
the 1979 Islamic revolution Iran has had two military forces — the
regular army and the elite Revolutionary Guards Corps, which controls
the ballistic missile programme is believed by Western military experts to be the more powerful and the better equipped of the two.
During Thursday’s military parade, Tehran displayed what it said were three newly-developed unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones.
“The
Sarir (throne) drone is a stealth, with a long range flight capability
and is equipped with a cameras and air-to-air missiles,” air defence
commander Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili said as the aircraft went on
display along with two other new drones, the Hazem-3 (firm) and
Mohajer-B (immigrant).
Iran says it is developing drones to be used for surveillance as well as for attacks.
The
Islamic republic regularly boasts of advances in the military and
scientific fields, but western military experts often cast doubt on its
claims.
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