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AFP
Tehran
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they launched ballistic missiles from “the depths of the Earth” on Wednesday during the last day of military exercises near sensitive Gulf waters.
The launches came a day after the Guards struck a mock-up of a US aircraft carrier with volleys of missiles near the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for a fifth of world oil output.
Iranian state television broadcast aerial footage of the latest daylight exercises in the desert showing bursts of flames, smoke and dust before what appeared to be four projectiles climbed into the sky.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement on their Sepahnews website that it was “the first time in the world” that such an exercise had been carried out.
It hailed “the successful launch of ballistic missiles from the depths of the Earth in a completely camouflaged way” as an “important achievement that could pose serious challenges to enemy intelligence organisations”.
The Guards said they also released bombs from Sukhoi Su-22 fighter-bombers to target predetermined positions on Bani Farur Island in Iran’s territorial waters.
“These launches were carried out without the platform and usual equipment,” IRGC aerospace chief Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh said on state television.
“The buried missiles suddenly tear through the ground and hit their targets with precision,” he said, adding again that this happened “for the first time in the world”.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Tuesday that Iranian forces had “at approximately 5:30 a.m. local time... launched several ballistic missiles from Iran to the Southern Arabian Gulf”.
It said two military bases, al-Udeid in Qatar and Al-Dhafra in the UAE, had “out of an abundance of caution... enacted a heightened alert status” before the all-clear was declared shortly afterwards.
Tehran
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they launched ballistic missiles from “the depths of the Earth” on Wednesday during the last day of military exercises near sensitive Gulf waters.
The launches came a day after the Guards struck a mock-up of a US aircraft carrier with volleys of missiles near the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for a fifth of world oil output.
Iranian state television broadcast aerial footage of the latest daylight exercises in the desert showing bursts of flames, smoke and dust before what appeared to be four projectiles climbed into the sky.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement on their Sepahnews website that it was “the first time in the world” that such an exercise had been carried out.
It hailed “the successful launch of ballistic missiles from the depths of the Earth in a completely camouflaged way” as an “important achievement that could pose serious challenges to enemy intelligence organisations”.
The Guards said they also released bombs from Sukhoi Su-22 fighter-bombers to target predetermined positions on Bani Farur Island in Iran’s territorial waters.
“These launches were carried out without the platform and usual equipment,” IRGC aerospace chief Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh said on state television.
“The buried missiles suddenly tear through the ground and hit their targets with precision,” he said, adding again that this happened “for the first time in the world”.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Tuesday that Iranian forces had “at approximately 5:30 a.m. local time... launched several ballistic missiles from Iran to the Southern Arabian Gulf”.
It said two military bases, al-Udeid in Qatar and Al-Dhafra in the UAE, had “out of an abundance of caution... enacted a heightened alert status” before the all-clear was declared shortly afterwards.
