This year, the IRGC’s military drills so-called Payambar-e A’zam (The Great Prophet) had different atmosphere than before. The IRGC’s missile and naval military maneuvers so called “Payambar-e A’zam (S) 14” were held in the Persian Gulf and the Hormuz Strait and according to the schedule of the drills, some exercises like anti-ship ballistic and cruise missile, offensive and defensive against a mock aircraft carrier and firing missiles from air, sea and the coast were conducted. One of the most important characteristics of this year’s drills was employing a mock U.S. aircraft carrier and conducting offensive and defensive maneuvers around this dummy U.S. carrier and this move caused the American to cry foul both because of their fear and protests against the IRGC’s drills.

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One of the most valuable innovation of the IRGC in this maneuver was to herald this strategy that the policy of developing military industry in the armed forces either in the Army or in the IRGC is to review enemies’ weak and strong points and to manufacture weapons to rectify the weak points and to enhance the strong points.

Of the other astonishing achievements of the IRGC was an unknown achievement which had been designed domestically and its production was displayed to the world. Missiles without having any launch-pad were fired from the depths of the Earth in a completely camouflaged way to hit the pre-defined targets. It means the buried missiles suddenly break the ground open, without using common launch pads and facilities, and hit their targets with accuracy and enemies will be in fact unable to trace its location of firing.

One of the other goals of the maneuver was to test surface-to-surface Hormuz missiles. The missile can trace enemies’ radars and hit the radar centers and destroy them. In this maneuver, the IRGC set the assimilated American anti-ballistic missile defense system THAAD as the target on its agenda. In the previous maneuvers, IRGC had successful operations on destroying assimilated American surface-to-air missile system Patriot with firing missiles with the range 250-kilometers but this year it was totally a different story. THAAD system is one the U.S.’s most powerful systems which has defensive application. The IRGC had assimilated THAAD for its maneuver. Production and operation units of Aerospace Force of the IRGC in this year’s maneuver targeted the assimilated THAAD system with its ballistic missiles successfully.

It is interesting to know that THAAD is one of the most powerful anti-ballistic missile defense systems which has been deployed in recent years by the U.S. in some of its regional bases like Al-Dhafra in the UAE. According to the U.S. allegations, these defensive systems have been deployed to defend American bases against the probable Iran’s missile attacks.

The design of THAAD system began in 1992 by Lockheed Martin Company upon the order of the U.S. Army and ultimately in 2008, this system joined the U.S. Army to be tested. Between 2008 and 2015, in other words in five years, the system underwent several tests and finally got the nod to enter the U.S. Air Force. THAAD system is in fact a long-range anti-ballistic missile defense system designed to shoot down targets at ranges of 200km and altitudes of up to 150km.

The THAAD system is comprised of five parts of launcher, radar, firing control system, related systems and units of the missile which practically support the system of THAAD defense system. THAAD is equipped with an active radar so-called AN/TPY-2 which is a missile defense radar that can detect, track and discriminate ballistic missiles from a distance of thousands of kilometers. This radar is considered as the biggest and important radars in the world. Beside what was mentioned, THAAD is also equipped with a backup unit so-called BM/C31 which enables the system to share its intelligence with other forces or defense systems. This backup unit is comprised of three components of tactical operation base, launching operation base and the whole backup of the system. These three units with different arrays have different performances.

There are nine truck-mounted launchers in a typical THAAD battery as each truck carrying eight missiles, power generator and electronic system which can be prepared for operation in less than 30 minutes and it can be reloaded twice in the same period. Each battalion of THAAD firing system is usually comprised of six vehicles for the launch. Its missile is the one with a single stage solid fuel rocket motor with thrust vectoring which can increase its speed to 8.2 Mach. The missile is 6.17m in length, 37 centimeters in diameter and 900 kilograms in weight and it is equipped with a warhead with kinetic energy.

Regarding all these peculiarities of the system, one should take into consideration the significance of the IRGC’s performance in assimilating the system and destroying it in the drills. Perhaps these statistics and information on the THAAD might be source of pride regarding our men in the IRGC for the common people who are unaware of the value of these equipment and defensive tools, but world armies and all strategic military think tanks are fully aware that with arrival of such equipment into the military and army structure of a country, capability for drawing up a war plan for attacking the country will be totally impossible.

Of course, the Supreme Leader as well as Foreign Ministry and some other Iranian bodies have repeatedly reiterated that the country does not intend to launch any attack or to conquest against any country and what is today termed as the military achievements in Iran is just for defensive purpose for the country and the countries aligned with the resistance, and neighboring countries of Iran should fully rely on these tools of security and count on Iran for protecting their securities.

 By: Hamid Reza Naghashian

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi emphasized that the United States has no right to join the Iran-proposed Hormuz Peace Endeavor, aka HOPE initiative.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Coincides with China, Iran, and Russia joint naval drills, Acting US Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said on Friday that Iran could carry out “provocative actions” in the Strait of Hormuz and elsewhere in that region in the future despite a period of relative calm.

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According To Iran News, After the Netherlands, Denmark also will join the European coalition of Hormuz Strait as of the beginning of the next year in 2020.

The Danish Ministry of Defense announced that Denmark will join European coalition of Hormuz Strait as of the beginning of the next year in 2020.

The European coalition of Hormuz Strait was formed in the Persian Gulf, as headed by France and with the participation of other European countries.

According to a statement released in the portal of the Danish Ministry of Defense, this country will join European coalition of Hormuz Strait along with the Netherlands.

A part of this statement is read as follows, “the Danish government has consulted with the country’s Foreign Relations Committee with regards to the participating in Europe’s maritime mission in the Strait of Hormuz and will send military forces to this coalition as of the beginning of the next year in 2020.

The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs also claims that this move is complementary to other efforts taken in the regional level including a parallel coalition led by the United States and with the presence of countries such as UK, Australia, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

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Tehran (Irannews) – An Iraqi diplomat sadwn al-saeedi said to ILNA that Baghdad will support and participate in Iran “Hormuz Peace Endeavor” despite US pressure.

He said in an exclusive interview with ILNA reporter that Iran’s plan is set to establish security in the region and to dismantle the United States and its President Donald Trump from the region.

President Hassan Rouhani of Iran unveiled the details of his plan for security in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, called the “Hormuz Peace Initiative”, at his speech at the United Nations. The initiative, also called “HOPE”, seeks cooperation among the regional countries for maintaining security in the strategic waterway.

He added that Iran’s plan is to secure the Strait of Hormuz and the flow of oil through regional countries which is controlled by the UN, but the US wants the region’s security plan to be controlled only by itself and its allies. And that’s the main point of the dispute.

On Iraq’s stance on Rouhani’s plan, he said Baghdad is ready to engage with regional countries on the basis of the plan, and welcomes Iran’s plan despite US pressure.

Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah has said that Muscat will consider supporting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s “Hormuz Peace Endeavor”.

In a tweet on Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also invited all regional states to join Iran’s initiative for securing the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

Zarif said the initiative entails “dialogue, confidence-building, freedom of navigation, energy security, non-aggression, and non-intervention”.

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Iran has threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz if it cannot export its crude oil.

The Trump administration, which withdrew the U.S. from the international nuclear deal in May, is pressing other countries to cut their oil imports from Iran by November.

“Our decision (toward the Strait of Hormuz) depends on Leader of the Revolution’s view,” Admiral Khanzadi told a press conference.

Strait of Hormuz is a highly important strategic location for international trade. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates a record 18.5 million barrels per day of sea-borne oil passed through it in 2016.

Chief of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said on July 5 that Iran is ready to implement Rouhani’s threat to block the Strait of Hormuz if Iran would not be able to export its oil under threat of Washington’s sanctions.

Elsewhere, Khanzadi said that the Iranian Navy plans to hold war game in future months.

He also added that the armed forces will hold drill at the end of the Iranian calendar year in which the Navy will also participate.

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