IRGC Commander: Iran Won’t Initiate Aggression, But Is Fully Offensive in Tactics

The chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says Iran will never initiate any offensive, but assumes a fully offensive mode when it comes to tactical and operational performance.

 

“We will never launch an offensive against any country,” Major General Hossein Salami said on Tuesday, adding that the Corps’ activities are completely “defensive” in nature on the strategic level.

 

The commander, however, asserted, “We are fully offensive in [our] tactic and operation.”

 

General Salami was speaking on the sidelines of the final phase of large-scale aerial and naval drills, codenamed Payambar-e A’zam (The Great Prophet) 14, that enlist the IRGC’s Aerospace Division and Navy.

 

The maneuvers that are to be followed up on Wednesday, span the general area of the Hormozgan Province, west of the strategic Hormuz Strait, and the Persian Gulf.

 

Tuesday saw the Corps stage “all-out and multi-layer” strikes against the life-size replica of a Nimitz-class US aircraft carrier, which the American navy usually sails into the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz.

 

The IRGC’s servicemen began the episode by destroying the mock carrier’s accompaniment with coast-to-sea fire.

 

State television aired footage showing the damage caused to the mock aircraft carrier following the operational juncture.

 

Elite divers then took action by delivering a “confusing blow” to the carrier’s command bridge, namely the room from which the vessel is steered.

 

The IRGC commandos then rappelled onto the mock carrier as speedboats circled around it.

 

The Corps’ ground forces, meanwhile, successfully drilled downing an enemy surveillance drone.

 

Rocket launchers rounded up the stage with regular and precision barrages.

 

‘Turning the tables on enemy’

 

“What was displayed today at the level of the Corps’ Aerospace Division and Navy was completely offensive,” General Salami said.

 

The commander said the exercises witnessed attacking seaborne enemy targets in case they sought to endanger the country’s interests. The drills infused missile attacks and warship engagement alongside offensive mine-planting by the Corps’ vessels.

 

By assuming an offensive mode on the operational and tactical level, the Corps will be “turning the tables” on the enemy, General Salami said.

 

IRGC drills simulate battling ‘real enemies’

 

The commander went on to outline the fashion after which the Corps designs its regular drills.

 

The IRGC’s drills are staged “on an extensive and realistic” level and use “scenarios that are developed based on [confrontation with] real enemies,” General Salami stated.

 

In order for the Corps “not to face confusion in actual circumstances” that could come up, it deploys a combination of the right technical approach and correct application of equipment and innovative tactics in its exercises.

 

The Corps’ weapons and equipment are likewise developed in accordance with the threats that face the country and proper understanding of “the enemy’s points of weakness and strength,” he said.

 

The commander, meanwhile, noted that the elite forces’ defensive doctrine is premised on domestically-produced equipment that is upgraded for each new drill so it can be tested in the field.

 

Coming in next was one of the newest additions to Iran’s military powerhouse, a helicopter capable of firing missiles that likewise released the projectiles onto the main target.

Source: Press TV