TEHRAN – A senior Iranian official says almost all of the country’s underground missile bases are safe.
“Almost all of our country’s underground and mountain missile infrastructure is intact and there are no special problems,” Brigadier General Gholamreza Jalali, head of the country’s passive defense organization, said in an interview published on Saturday.
He said the country’s underground missile bases and storage sites remained intact during Israel’s military invasion of Iran.
On June 13, Israel launched a blatant and unprovoked act of aggression against Iran, sparking a 12-day war that left at least 1,064 people dead in the country, including military commanders, nuclear scientists, and civilians. The United States also entered the war by bombing three Iranian nuclear facilities in a serious violation of international law.
In response, Iranian forces targeted strategic locations throughout the occupied territories, as well as Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base, the largest US military base in West Asia.
Another Iranian military commander had earlier said that Iran’s missile capabilities were completely intact.
Brigadier General Mohammadreza Naqdi said a few weeks ago that “our missiles are without a single scratch.”
The commander-in-chief’s remarks followed Tel Aviv’s claims that some of Iran’s missile capabilities were destroyed during the Israeli invasion. The commander-in-chief added that Iran responded in response to Israel’s military attack.
Another Iranian commander also said his country was preparing for a two-month war following the Israeli attack.
“Our war strategy was to inflict more effective and more devastating blows in stages through proper management,” said Maj. Gen. Mohsen Rezaei.
During the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June, the United States destroyed about a quarter of its supply of advanced THAAD interceptor missiles, U.S. media reported, citing two sources familiar with the operation.
The U.S. military responded to Tehran’s barrage of ballistic missiles by firing more than 100 and possibly more than 150 THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) missiles, a significant portion of America’s stockpile of advanced air defense systems. The United States has seven THAAD systems, two of which were used in the Israeli conflict.
In an interview on Saturday, Jalali said Iran was preparing to deal even more damage to the United States and Israel in case it repeats its aggression in the future.