...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979...fired multiple ballistic missiles Friday at the close of five days of military drills that generals said were a warning to arch-enemy Israel.
"These exercises were designed to respond to threats made in recent days by the Zionist regime," Iran's armed forces chief of staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri told state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
."Sixteen missiles aimed and annihilated the chosen target. In this exercise, part of the hundreds of Iranian missiles capable of destroying a country that dared to attack Iran were deployed," he added.
The military drills dubbed Payambar-e-Azadm, or "Great Prophet", began Monday in Bushehr, Hormozgan and Khuzestan provinces, each of which touch the Gulf.
"The military exercise... is a serious warning to Zionist regime officials," said Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Major General Hossein Salami.
"Make the slightest mistake, we will cut off their hand."
The drills come after US national security adviser Jake Sullivan met Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, amid the Jewish state's opposition to efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Bennett has accused Iran of "nuclear blackmail" and charged that revenue it gained from sanctions relief would be used to acquire weapons to harm Israelis.
Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard fired more than a dozen surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, the official IRNA news agency reported on Friday.
The report said the Guard fired 16 missiles during an ongoing major military exercise across the country's south. It said the name of missiles were Emad, Ghadr, Sejjil, Zalzal, Dezful and Zolfaghar and that their range is from 350 to 2000 kilometers (220 to 1250 miles). The short-range and medium-range missiles, Iran has said, can reach U.S. bases in the region as well as archenemy Israel.
It said the missiles successfully hit one target at the same time as 10 drones simultaneously hit their targets. State TV showed missiles launching in the desert.
Iran had displayed and test fired the missiles in the past.