Ready for war: Iran boasts it can hit American targets 2000km away

Amirali Hajizadeh, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps Aerospace Force Chief

Amirali Hajizadeh, Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps Aerospace Force Chief

Amirali Hajizadeh, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps Aerospace Force Chief

Iran said it has always been prepared for a full-fledged war as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday blamed the country for Saturday’s drone attacks on Saudi Aramco’s oil fields and urging the international community “to publicly and unequivocally condemn Iran’s attacks”.

In a reaction, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps Aerospace Force Chief Amirali Hajizadeh said in a statement on Sunday: “Everybody should know that all American bases and their aircraft carriers, at a distance of up to 2,000 kilometres around Iran, are within the range of our missiles.”

According to Hajizadeh, the Iranian military are ready to target two US bases and one carrier in the event of armed conflict.

“Al-Udeid base in Qatar, az-Zafra base in the UAE and a US vessel in the Gulf of Oman would be targeted if Washington took military action,” the commander said.

Saturday’s drone attacks on Saudi Aramco factories prompted the United States to accuse Iran of being behind the incident.

US Senator Lindsey Graham accused the Islamic Republic of looking to “wreak havoc in the Middle East”, and recommend that the US “put on the table an attack on Iranian oil refineries if they continue their provocations”.

US Secretary of state, Mike Pompeo also pinned the blame on Tehran over the attacks calling for public condemnation of Iran’s actions.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Trump during the phone call that the kingdom was willing and able to confront and deal with this “terrorist aggression.”

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Reacting to the accusations, the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Abbas Mousavi has condemned Mike Pompeo’s recent statement on Iran’s involvement in the drones attack against Saudi Aramco oil facilities in the kingdom, calling them a lie.

“The US policy of exerting “maximum pressure”, that apparently failed, veered towards “maximum lie” policy,” Mousavi said.

On Saturday, two drone attacks, claimed by Houthis, caused major fires in two oil facilities: in Abqaiq in eastern Saudia Arabia and Khurais northeast of Riyadh.

These were eventually contained by security and emergency service personnel.

According to the Saudi energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, oil production at the two plants has temporarily stopped, interrupting about half of the company’s total daily oil output.

Yemen’s Houthi movement has been launching drone attacks against Saudi Arabia’s infrastructure and military facilities in response to the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen, which began in March 2015, aiming to restore the government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.

Both Riyadh and Washington claimed that Houthis have been receiving Iranian military assistance. Tehran has repeatedly rejected these allegations, citing the naval blockade which has been in place against the southern Arabian country since 2015.

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