Iran vows to improve its missiles, offers support for ‘anti-Zionist front’
Marking country’s Defense Industry Day, Iranian army says it will maintain ‘trend of enhancing the destructive power’ of its projectiles
Iran vowed Saturday to continue its efforts to advance its missile technology, and expressed its unceasing support for those who form the “anti-Zionism front” as well as for fighters in other “proxy and terrorist wars in the region.”
The pledge came as part of a statement from the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces to mark the country’s National Defense Industry Day, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
Iran’s army and defense experts “will continue the trend of increasing the power and enhancing the precision striking and the destructive power of our missiles,” the statement said.
“We declare very clearly and firmly that with regard to the proxy and terrorist wars in the region, we will respond to all the needs of the Islamic resistance and anti-Zionism front and will help them on the scene of the current decisive battles in Iraq and Syria,” the statement continued.
Iran is a key patron of both Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is in the fifth year of a civil war against opposition forces, and Lebanese-based terror group Hezbollah, whose fighters are supporting the Assad regime. Russia, which is currently carrying out airstrikes in Syria, purportedly against Islamic State, has recently launched several raids from Iranian soil.
FOX News reported in July that Iran conducted its fourth ballistic missile test since it signed a deal with world powers last year to curb its nuclear activity.
Tehran’s new ballistic missile, made using North Korean technology, exploded shortly after launch outside the city of Isfahan, intelligence officials told the media outlet.
According to the report, the maximum range of the missile is 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers), more than twice the distance between Tehran and Jerusalem.
Though not banned by Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement, the launch violated United Nations resolution 2231, which calls on Tehran to refrain from ballistic missiles development, including testing, for eight years.
Iran has maintained it never sought to acquire nuclear weapons and never will, and the agreement does not prohibit legitimate and conventional military activities.
Tehran said in July it would continue its ballistic missile program even after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said the missile tests were not in the spirit of the nuclear deal.
