Iran Warns of More Military Drills after US Opposition

“We will not cancel any drills and will improve them and make them more frequent,” Hajizadeh told reporters in Tehran on Monday.

He underlined that facing the US failure in complying with its undertakings under the nuclear deal, the Iranian officials attach more importance to making progress in different fields, including military areas to defend the country.

In relevant remarks on Saturday, Hajizadeh underlined Iran’s continued progress in developing its missile industry, and said any frailty in this regard will make the US more arrogant in raising excessive demands from Tehran.

“The Americans merely understand the language of power and force. They don’t understand logic and they cannot be trusted. We should stand against them decisively, otherwise we will witness their excessive and cruel demands every day,” Hajizadeh said, addressing a gathering in the Central city of Qom.

He referred to the US scenario of pressures and threats against Iran’s missile program, and warned that any compromise in this field will further embolden the Americans to eventually demand Iran to dismantle its missile industry.

“Of course they have done a miscalculation and this will never happen,” Hajizadeh stressed.

General Hajizadeh also in March warned that lack of publicity in the media for Iran’s previous missile drills emboldened the US to make new demands to curb the country’s missile defense program.

Hajizadeh said Iran and West Asia sit on the fault lines of insecurity and many neighboring countries are at war, and that makes perfect sense for Iran to strengthen its defense capabilities.

He said all government officials, including the president, are determined to strengthen the country’s defense capabilities, while promise has been made to even expand it in the coming months.

The General said Iran’s missile defense program began 31 years ago and will continue as usual come what may.

According to the IRGC commander, enemies seek to weaken Iran’s pillars of power, including its missile deterrence power.

He blamed the media for not publicizing IRGC’s past missile drills, arguing that the “mistake” emboldened the US government to react and call for an end to Iran’s missile defense program in light of the recent missile drills.

His March remarks came after the US Department of the Treasury imposed financial sanctions on two more Iranian companies it claimed are involved in the country’s ballistic missile program.

Washington’s move against Tehran was announced on March 24, weeks after the United States imposed similar sanctions on 11 other companies and individuals alleged to be involved in the missile program.

The United States claimed the companies are working for an industrial group, which Washington alleged is in charge of Iran’s ballistic missile program.

Early in March Iran fired several ballistic missiles from several bases across the country as part of a massive missile drills.