TEHRAN - The spokesman for Iran’s Defense Ministry has said Iran possesses precision strike missiles capable of hitting Israel and named after top anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.

Brigadier General Reza Talaei-Nik broke the story on Sunday during a ceremony in the western province of Hamedan held to commemorate the martyrs of the imposed war on Iran in the 1980s.

“Today, we have missiles at our disposal that we have named ‘Israel-striker’ missiles,” Talaei-Nik said. “We have Israel-striker missiles; Martyr Hajj Qassem missile is a missile capable of striking Israel.”

The Martyr Hajj Qassem missile is a surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a range of 1,400 kilometers. The advanced rocket weighs more than seven tons and measures 11 meters in length, with a 500-kg payload.

“With a speed 12 times greater than that of sound while entering the atmosphere, the missile is able to pass through any missile defense system and destroy the target owing to its high accuracy and powerful warhead,” the Defense Ministry said.

Talaei-Nik also said Iran ranks first in terms of defense capability in the West Asia region.

“Today, Iran is the region’s prime power in defense,” Talaei-Nik said. “We were all by ourselves before the war, but today they say no equation in the region can be balanced without Iran; this is the defensive power that has been achieved.”