Iran well-aware of US missiles locations

A senior Iranian military commander on Tuesday announced that Iran has collected sufficient intelligence on the location of the US missile systems in the region.

“We are fully aware of the location of the US missile systems in the region,” Commander of Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Ahmad Miqqani told reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony to honor the veterans and personnel of the air defense unit.

Miqqani reminded that the US has been stationing missiles around Iran for years, and said, “By adopting this measure, Americans intend to continue their long-term presence in the region to attain their illegitimate goals.”

He also cautioned that the US move serves as part of its psychological warfare and is also aimed at spreading Iranophobia in the region.

“By adopting this measure, they intend to disturb solidarity of the Islamic Ummah (community) and stabilize their military presence in the region,” the military commander underlined.

The commander further pointed out that the US is seeking to sell such military and weapon systems to the Persian Gulf littoral states to siphon off their treasures.

Earlier on Thursday, Iran’s Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Hassan Firouzabadi said that the US has been deploying its missiles around Iran for years and that Tehran knows the location of these missile systems.

Firouzabadi’s remarks came days after US officials said that the United States has expanded land- and sea-based missile defense systems in and around the Persian Gulf to counter what they claimed to be Iran’s growing missile threat.

Four Mideast countries to have the US system are Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain – which also hosts the US Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters – and Qatar, which has a modernized US air operations center that played a key role in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

General David Petraeus, the US Central Command chief responsible for US military operations across the Middle East, said the US now has eight Patriot missile batteries stationed in the Persian Gulf region – two each in four countries.