Iran warns of response to potential attacks on ships

Tehran, Feb 14 (IANS) A top Iranian military commander has said if the enemies target the country's ships, Iran's armed forces will definitely respond.

Chief Commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami made the remarks at a meeting with the IRGC's retired and incumbent commanders and officials in the Iranian capital Tehran while commenting on the naval capabilities of the country's armed forces, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the official news agency IRNA.

Salami said, "If they hit our ships, we will definitely hit the same number, or even more, of their vessels."

He stressed that the IRGC possessed such a great power that it would definitely defeat the enemies on all battlefields, including in military battles and cyber war.

In a televised interview on Monday, Salami said the IRGC had successfully fired a long-range ballistic missile from one of its cruisers, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

He added the ballistic missile had been launched as part of the joint cooperation between the IRGC's Aerospace Division and Navy, noting that the new achievement had increased the range of Iran's naval influence and power to any given desired point.

Fars reported on Tuesday that the IRGC had, for the first time, managed to equip the homegrown Shahid Mahdavi ocean cruiser with domestically-developed Fateh-class ballistic missiles with a minimum range of 1,700 km.

The long-range ballistic missiles were launched from the deck of the Shahid Mahdavi cruiser in the Sea of Oman and managed to hit their targets in one of the country's central deserts, according to the report.