Iran’s Guard Commander warns more missiles could strike enemies within 2,000 km

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iran’s recent missile attack on the Kurdistan Region’s town of Koya is a “message” to world powers, the Chief Commander of the regime's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) declared on Thursday.

Aided by “precision rockets and aeronautic technology,” the IRGC was able to “avenge the blood of the fallen martyrs at the Marivan base and the rest of [Iran’s] Kurdistan Province,” stated Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, Chief Commander of the IRGC, according to Tasnim, an outlet with close ties with the army.

Multiple clashes have taken place in the country in recent months, with both sides claiming lives from the other, most notably in an attack on a military base in Marivan (Mariwan) County, where the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), killed ten Iranian border guards.

On Saturday, in turn, the Islamic Regime claimed the lives of 15 and injured 42 more members from two opposition parties, Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) and Kurdistan Democratic Party – Iran (KDP-I), whose headquarters reside in the outskirts of the Kurdistan Region’s town of Koya. The attack, purportedly, was conducted from a 220-kilometer distance from the Iranian Province of East Azerbaijan with seven domestically produced missiles.

“Those who lie within a 2,000-kilometer range of Iranian soil and have bases, forces, and equipment should know that all of the IRGC missiles have high precision,” warned the Chief Commander.

Earlier this week, senior Iranian Kurdish (Rojhilati) officials from the two parties hit by Iran’s attack, told Kurdistan 24 that the ballistic rockets which left dozens of casualties in their wake were a “message to the Trump administration.”

IRGC’s Jafari affirmed the recent attacks send “a strong message to our enemies, especially the [world] superpowers who think they can impose their evil intentions on and bully [Iran].”

“Today, our possession of a stockpile of missiles with a 2,000-kilometer range has provided a unique power to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” a possible reference to the army’s medium-range rockets, one of which is the Ashoura, with similarities to their Sejjil-2.

“Now,” he continued, “our nation, with the support of these capabilities and the potential of faithful and revolutionary forces, can resist global arrogance,” Jafari said.

Last month, Iran unveiled its F-5 fighter jet lookalike, dubbed Kowsar, in what has been widely considered yet another attempt to demonstrate its “military might” against the US in the region. The Islamic Republic has also been struggling to distract from an economic crisis and growing domestic unrest, worsened by recent US sanctions and calls for a change in the regime’s behavior.

Editing by Nadia Riva