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On Yom Kippur Iran Attempts To Intimidate Israel With Long Range Missiles
"We and our allies have known about this missile since Iran started to secure parts for it years ago," a respected Israeli defense analyst told the Israel News Agency. "Iran knows that Israel is presently on a high state of alert for the Yom Kippur Jewish holiday and is trying to wage a psych ops war against us. But where Iran believes that Israel will start to fear and run, they forget that Israel only strengthened its resolve in the face of dozens of terror Islamic suicide bombing attacks. We also believe that with Iran engineering being as inferior and shoddy as it is, that missile would probably wind up somewhere lost in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia or India - not Israel." Iran also attacked Israel and the US today with an abundance of verbal diarrhea with crowds in Tehran yelling out anti-Israel slogans. The anti-Israel cheering came at major military parade in Iran amid mounting tensions with the West. The Iran missile Ghadr-1 (power) was known to be in development by the US, the UK, Israel and other Western and Asian democratic states. Its appearance today was at the end of the annual military parade marking the start of Iran's 1980-1988 war with Iraq. The master of ceremonies at the Iran terror parade told reporters the weapon had a range of 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles), sufficient to put US bases in the Middle East and Iran's arch enemy Israel within reach. "The Iran nation is ready to bring any oppressive power to its knees," read a slogan from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei inscribed on a massive board on a truck. The missile, which has a "baby bottle-style" nose for extra aerodynamic efficiency, is seen as an improved version of Iran's existing longer-range Shahab series, which was also paraded. Western experts have said in the past that the Shahab-3 could reach 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), but the announcer said it had a 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) range. The parade in Iran was marked by a string of slogans calling for "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." Western military attaches, apparently warned of this in advance, boycotted the rally for the second year running. "The Western attaches did not come. It was because of the slogans about Israel and the United States," said one foreign representative who declined to be named.
"Israel should be eliminated" and "No Iranian Muslim, no Muslim recognizes Israel," were among the slogans borne on the back of military vehicles, quoting the words of Iran's revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. "Israel has to be wiped off the map," read another Khomeini quote which aroused worldwide controversy when it was repeated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005. The parade came amid growing tensions over Iran's nuclear program, which the United States alleges is cover for a nuclear weapons drive but which Tehran insists is aimed solely at producing electricity. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has warned that the world should brace for war against Tehran if it keeps defying the UN Security Council by pressing on with sensitive nuclear work. But the head of the elite Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jaafari, warned Iran's enemies: "They would surely have a bitter experience in Iran, which is the cradle of defense civilization." Iran's military, especially its air force, has been hit by the US trade embargo, and Jaafari admitted that the Islamic republic would need to outsmart its enemies through means other than technology. "Their material capabilities are better than us, everyone knows it and we admit it. We are responding to technology not with technology but with special methods and tactics," he told reporters. Officials at the parade said that only weapons built by Iran were shown at the parade, in a bid to emphasize the country's self-sufficiency in military technology. Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meanwhile said in a speech to the parade that Iran was a force for peace in the region. "Iran is an influential power in the region and the world, and the world should know that this power has always served peace, stability, brotherhood and justice." The full panoply of Iran's armed forces were on display, with thousands of members of the regular army and the elite Revolutionary Guards saluting Ahmadinejad and top military leaders in a march-past. The United States and its ally Israel have never ruled out using military strikes to punish Iran for its defiance in the nuclear standoff. Iran has said it will never initiate an attack, but has warned of striking US bases in the Arabian peninsula, Iraq and Afghanistan - as well as Israel itself - as a response to any aggression. At the beginning of the parade there was a fly-past by three "Saeqeh" (Thunderbolt) planes, Iran's new fighter jet, and Tehran vowed to show off more home-grown weapons during the week-long ceremony that marks the "sacred defense." Iran said on Thursday it had "scared its enemies" by test flying two new generation, domestically-produced jet fighter planes and had shown its battle readiness, the latest riposte to speculation about a war over Tehran's nuclear plans. Iran Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar told state TV that experts in the ministry and air force had jointly carried out research, design and production of the Saegheh warplane. "Two Saegheh jets were tested successfully by air force pilots ... The test scared Iran's enemies," Najjar told state television, adding that the two jets would officially join the country's fleet of warplanes today. Armed forces chief Ataollah Salehi also said of the test flights: "Iran, with its advanced equipment and capabilities, is fully prepared for any possible aggression." An Iranian air force commander said on Wednesday Iran had plans for bombing Israel if the Jewish state attacked first. Ahmadinejad has called the Holocaust “a myth” and called for Israel to be “wiped off the map.” The White House says Iran sponsors terrorism. Israel remains on full military alert against any threat from Syria, Iran and Islamic terror organizations during and after the Yom Kippur holiday.
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