TEHRAN — Iran is powerful enough to respond to any aggression and threat by the enemies, says Defense Minister Amir Hatami.

“Thank God, today the Islamic Republic has all the necessary components of power and determination to respond to any aggressor and will respond to any threat at any level with high quality defensive weapons,” Hatami said on Thursday, according to Mehr.

He said Iran’s military equipment have been designed and produced according to required domestic standards.  

The defense chief also pointed to Iran’s recent missile attack against a U.S. military base in Iraq as a measure meant to meet public demands.

The remarks came weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered strikes that martyred Lieutenant General Soleimani, chief of the IRGC Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).

“The hard slap in the face from the armed forces in targeting the Americans’ base was given at the highest level of standards in terms of the timing, quality and accuracy of the missiles in pin-point targeting,” Defense Minister Hatami explains.

In the early hours of January 8, the IRGC attacked the U.S. airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq as part of its promised “tough revenge” for the U.S. terror attack.

“The hard slap in the face from the armed forces in targeting the Americans’ base was given at the highest level of standards in terms of the timing, quality and accuracy of the missiles in pin-point targeting,” Hatami said.

He added that the effect of this slap “will remain in history.”

“National cohesion, unity and might in the international stage was an achievement of Hajj Qassem Soleimani’s existence for the Islamic establishment,” he stated.

In remarks on Tuesday, the defense minister announced that enhancing deterrence power was a religious necessity for the Iranian armed forces.

Touching upon the statements of the Leader in the Friday Prayers sermons, Hatami said Ayatollah Khamenei, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, underscored the strategy of “being strong and trying to be stronger” as a key to overcome problems. 

“Iran has proved that, based on its own might and power, it will respond to any threat at any level,” the minister said, adding that his forces consider the Leader’s strategy as a religious obligation.  

MH/PA