“We announce them [American authorities] that we are absolutely determined and serious in defending national security, water borders, and our maritime interests and any illogical move of the enemy will be responded decisively and swiftly.”

He made the remarks on Thu. in his visit to the Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Musa, as accompanied by IRGC Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri.

During his visit, Major General Salami congratulated the successful launch of multipurpose satellite entitled “Noor-1” to the noble nation of Islamic Iran and stated, “message of launching this satellite into space is that we are determined to develop our defense power on earth, sea, and space and we will never stop and every day, a new birth of advanced powers will take place in IRGC.”

“We are determined to use all our abilities and talents to defend the vital interests of the Iranian people and to stand firmly against threats effectively and decisively,” he emphasized.

He made the remarks in the unveiling ceremony of Ra’ad-500 missile on Sunday.

The IRGC General noted that based on experience and logic, Iranian forces must become stronger in order to deter war. Not only to avoid defeat but also to overcome the enemies.

According to Salami, the IRGC Aerospace force made a great achievement with regard to composite engines. Reducing the size and increasing production speed are considered a leap in the new missile technology of Iran.

Referring to the special capacities of Ra’ad-500 and its composite engine, he said, “Although the mass of thunder missile is half of Fateh missile, it has a 200 Km increase in range and is also cheaper, lighter, more agile and more accurate. This technology is applicable to all our classes of missile”.

He further pointed to the IRGC aerospace new achievement regarding the mobile nozzles in orbital carrier rockets and said, “This a significant and sophisticated technology which can control the missile propulsion vector in space, it means that we can have maneuverability beyond the atmosphere. This is a great achievement which leads to a leap in missile technology for Iran.”

Achieving such technologies have paved the way for Iran to build light satellite carriers with solid propellant, manufacture surface-to-surface missiles with a small radar cross-sectional area, enhance the maneuverability of missiles to defeat missile defense systems, and reduce the costs and complexity of production of missiles.

“We remind enemies of the Islamic Iran that any aggression against the security of this nation or its goals will draw a crushing response from armed forces of the Islamic Republic,” Brigadier General Amir Hatami said Saturday in a local ceremony in Chabahar, Sistan and Baluchestan province.

The minister went on to stress the failure of US’ maximum pressure policy against Iran, noting that “The grown, insightful and resisting nation of Islamic Iran has never given in and will never give in to the excessive demands of the arrogance, and we will definitely overcome these problems successfully and proudly.”

Pointing to the participation of millions of Iranians in the funeral of Martyr Soleimani, Hatami said that the Iranian people proved that they will not let the US and Israeli regimes interrupt the path of this martyr.

The official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, did not provide further details or say whether the Iran missile forces were taking aim at any specific targets.

“They’re clearly at a heightened state of alert. Is that heightened state of alert to be better prepared defensively or to be better prepared offensively? That can’t be determined at this point,” the official said. “But we’re watching it closely.”

Following the assassination of Iran’s IRGC Quds Force Commander Lt. Gen. Qasem Soleimani and Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMU) Chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis along with 8 others, in a US terrorist assault in Baghdad International Airport in Iraq on Friday, Iran vowed a harsh vengeance “in due time and right place” awaits criminals behind Soleimani’s assassination.

The bodies of the martyred commander and his Iranian companions were first transferred to the Iranian cities of Ahvaz and Mashhad, where massive funeral processions were held on Sunday. The cortege arrived in Tehran Monday morning, and will be heading to the holy city of Qom and finally to his hometown Kerman in the southeast for burial on Tuesday.

Both Soleimani and Muhandis were popular figureheads putting a stop to the rise of ISIL terrorism which once came as close as 30 km to Baghdad, while the US withdrew troops from Iraq and did nothing to stop the terrorists’ advances.

He drew a comparison between the situation of the Armed Forces before and after the Islamic Revolution and said, “if we want to compare the highlights of differences of the army before and after the Islamic Revolution, it should be noted that withdrawal of military advisers and self-reliance in the field of maritime equipment are of the most important and salient achievements of the Islamic Revolution.”

He made the remarks on Thu. while talking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the Parliament’s Cultural Commission and said, “since we are after promoting and enhancing deterrence power in the country, we have to increase defense capability of the country, so, manpower is one of the components that is effective in the promotion of defense power of the country.”

Benefited from the most experienced and expert manpower, “we could gain salient achievements in the field of manufacturing the most modern and complicated defense equipment in various fields.”

He called on senior officials of the country especially legislators in the Parliament to throw their weight behind the Armed Forces of the country in line with materializing most of their objectives