THE PERSIAN GULF
Iran warns U.S.: ‘Severe’ response if our territorial waters our violated
April 30, 2020 — Israel National News reports: “Iran is continuing to threaten the US, with a spokesman for the Iranian Armed Forces saying Wednesday the Islamic Republic will respond ‘severely’ if US vessels violate its territorial waters.
The spokesman, Abolfazl Shekarchi, criticized the United States for what he called ‘causing disturbance’ in the Gulf, reported the Xinhua news agency.
Shekarchi also dismissed US President Donald Trump’s recent threats as ‘psychological warfare’ with the purpose of attracting public attention ahead of the US presidential election.
Trump last week warned Tehran over its harassment of US vessels, writing on Twitter that he had instructed the US Navy to fire on any Iranian ships that harass it at sea, but said later he was not changing the military’s rules of engagement.
The warning followed a tense encounter between US and Iranian ships in the Persian Gulf earlier this month…” (More bragging and blustering from Iran. In 2016 the Global Firepower list puts the United States as the number 1 military power in the world. Israel ranks as number 16, and Iran is ranked as number 21. In early February 2017 President Trump tweeted: “Iran is playing with fire – they don’t appreciate how ‘kind’ President Obama was to them. Not me!” See the next two reports.)
Iranian general threatens: We’ll destroy US warships
April 24, 2020 — Israel National News reports: “The head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards threatened on Thursday that Iran will destroy US warships if its security is threatened in the Persian Gulf.
‘I have ordered our naval forces to destroy any American terrorist force in the Persian Gulf that threatens security of Iran’s military or non-military ships,’ Major General Hossein Salami said, according to Reuters, adding, ‘Security of the Persian Gulf is part of Iran’s strategic priorities.’
‘I am telling the Americans that we are absolutely determined and serious in defending our national security, our water borders, our shipping safety, and our security forces, and we will respond decisively to any sabotage,’ he continued.
‘Americans have experienced our power in the past and must learn from it,’ stated Salami…”
US accuses Iran of ‘dangerous’ harassment of US warships
April 16, 2020 — Israel National News reports: “The Associated Press reports a group of 11 Iranian naval vessels made ‘dangerous and harassing’ maneuvers near U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf near Kuwait yesterday, in one case passing within ten meters of a Coast Guard cutter, quoting American officials.
In a statement, the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet said Revolutionary Guard vessels repeatedly crossed the bows and sterns of several American ships at close range and high speed.
The American vessels included the USS Paul Hamilton, a Navy destroyer, the USS Lewis B. Puller, a ship that serves as an afloat landing base, and the USCGC Maui. The ships were operating with U.S. Army Apache attack helicopters in international waters, the statement said…”
Pompeo: Iran’s space program is dangerous – not peaceful
April 28, 2020 — Israel National News reports: “US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Monday that Iran’s burgeoning space program is ‘dangerous’, adding that the recent successful launch of a military satellite proves that Tehran has concealed development of technology for intercontinental ballistic missiles under the guise of an allegedly ‘civilian’ space program.
In a statement released Monday, Pompeo responded to Iran’s launching of a satellite into orbit last Wednesday.
‘For years, Iran has claimed its space program is purely peaceful and civilian. The Trump Administration has never believed this fiction,’ said Pompeo.
The ‘launch of a military satellite by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, makes clear what we have said all along: Iran’s space program is neither peaceful nor entirely civilian.’
The Secretary of State said that the satellite’s launch vehicle incorporated technologies used for long-range missiles, hinting that the space program has served as cover for Iran’s development of ‘a delivery system for nuclear weapons…” (Ezekiel 38:5 predicts that Russia, the Orient, and Persia [which changed its name to Iran in 1932] will see millions destroyed through atomic warfare in the Latter Years and Latter Days – Ezekiel 38:8, 16. This battle is described in Revelation 9:14 – 18: “Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.” See the next two reports.)
IRGC Aerospace Force Commander General Amir Ali Hajizadeh: ‘We are a superpower now’
April 30, 2020 — Israel National News reports: “IRGC Aerospace Force Commander General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said in a Channel 2 (Iran) interview that he would like to thank the start-up companies, the universities, and the people from Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Aerospace Industries Organization for their help in the construction of the first-stage engine of the missile that launched the Noor satellite into orbit on April 22, 2020, reports the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
Saying that Iran is now a superpower, he said that the Noor satellite’s orbit passes over the U.S. and other countries that Iran can’t fly planes over, and he went on to explain that the first-stage engine used liquid fuel that is also used in surface-to-surface missiles because it was a cheaper option.
He elaborated that the first-stage engine had belonged to an old missile that had been in storage, and that in the future, Iran will develop a solid-fuel first-stage engine. Furthermore, he said that since Iran used a portable launch pad, it has no need for a stationary command center.
He also promised to advance Iran’s space technologies, to strengthen Iran every day, and to secure Iran such that nobody would dare threaten it…
Iran shows off drones that can reach Israel, threat increases
April 20, 2020 — The Jerusalem Post reports: “Iran’s Defense Ministry unveiled a mass of new drones over the weekend for the Islamic Republic’s army and air force. According to Tehran the drones have new capabilities, and can fly more than 1,000 km., which means they could reach Israel from Iran.
Iran has been producing drones since the 1980s and is an innovator in drone warfare. It used 25 drones and cruise missiles to attack Saudi Arabia last September, and has flown drones into Israeli airspace.
Iran’s Defense Minister Brig.-Gen. Amir Hatami showed off the drones on Saturday. He said that one jet-powered UAV could fly at speeds of 900 km. per hour at an altitude of 12,000 meters. This would rival the best drones that the US and other countries are now using. These drones have a range of up to 1,500 km., he said, and can fly for several hours. It is a message to Israel, the US and their allies: We can reach you…”