TEHRAN, Iran (AP) —
Iran declared Wednesday that it can destroy nearby U.S. military bases
and strike Israel within minutes of an attack on the Islamic Republic,
reflecting tensions over Iran's suspect nuclear program.
The
veiled threat came during a military drill that has included the firing
of ballistic missiles. The elite Revolutionary Guards, conducting the
war games in Iran's central desert, said that the missiles were aimed at
mock-ups of foreign military bases.
Israel and the U.S. have
hinted at the possibility of military strikes against Iran if sanctions
and diplomacy do not rein in Iran's nuclear development program. The
West suspects Iran may be aiming to build nuclear weapons. Iran insists
its program is for peaceful purposes.
The semiofficial Fars news
agency quoted Gen. Ami Ali Hajizadeh of the Revolutionary Guards as
saying U.S. bases are in range of Iran's missiles and could be hit in
retaliatory strikes. He referred to Israel as "occupied territories."
"Measures
have been taken so that we could destroy all these bases in the early
minutes of an attack," said Hajizadeh, chief of the Guards' air-space
division.
Israeli officials refused to comment. There was no immediate comment from Washington.
Hajizadeh
said the Guards also successfully test fired an anti-ship missile that
could sink U.S. warships in the Gulf. Gen. Hajizadeh told state TV that
the shore-to-sea ballistic missile, called "Persian Gulf," has a range
of 300 kilometers (180 miles).
State TV showed video of the launching of a white missile that hit a huge target in Gulf waters.
The
U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet is based in Bahrain, an island in the Gulf about
200 kilometers (120 miles) from Iran, well within range of Iranian
missiles.
On Tuesday Iran said it launched a variety of missiles
during the desert drill, including Shahab-3 missiles with a range of
2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) that could reach Israel and southern
Europe.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
In this picture released by the Iranian Fars News Agency, a surface-to-surface missile is launched during the Iranian Revolutionary Guards maneuver in an undisclosed location in Iran. (July 3, 2012)
