According to Mehr News Agency, a group of foreign military attachés residing in Tehran met on Tuesday with Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh, Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, on the occasion of “August 22 – National Defense Industry Day.”
In this meeting, Brigadier General Nasirzadeh commemorated the memory of the martyrs of the 12-day Israeli imposed war on Iran, especially commanders, scientists, women, men, and children, and said, that August 22, in the official calendar of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has been designated as National Defense Industry Day; an indigenous industry that today, relying on self-sufficiency, perseverance, and Islamic-Iranian teachings, and under the wise guidance of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, has become one of the main pillars of national security and power.
The Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics explained the roots, aspects, and hidden and apparent objectives of the imposed 12-day war, saying that at the outset, from the very beginning of the war, the Zionist regime enjoyed wide political, intelligence, operational, and military support from the United States, and ultimately, the US directly participated in this offensive operation. "We are fully aware that, in addition to the US, some Western and regional countries were actively involved in the Zionist regime’s interception and defense operations, while we, due to the unlawful US sanctions, were relying solely on our domestic capabilities."
"In fact, at the very time when we were negotiating with the American side and it had been agreed that the sixth round of these talks would continue in Muscat, the Zionist regime, with US support, launched its aerial and missile strikes at dawn on June 13, in a combination of military and terrorist operations. A number of our senior military commanders and scientists, who were at rest with their families, were targeted and martyred. The first wave of the regime’s attack was carried out remotely by exploiting Syria’s and Iraq’s control gaps," he said, adding that the Zionist regime’s agents inside Iran were also used in this terrorist operation.
He added that the Zionist regime, imagining that this sudden operation and the assassination of senior military commanders would lead to the collapse of the military structure and command hierarchy, did not expect a quick response from the Islamic Republic of Iran to this cowardly and treacherous attack. "Considering the particular conditions of both sides and the geographical distance, the Islamic Republic of Iran, in addition to its efforts to defend against the massive waves of enemy aircraft and missiles, and despite the martyrdom of a number of senior commanders, designed and executed its retaliatory strikes in two sections: missile and drone, and in a combined form," Nasirzadeh underlined.
The defense minister went on to say that Iran's retaliatory operation was gradually carried out more extensively and precisely." While at the beginning of the war about 60% of our fired missiles passed through the defense layers of the Zionist regime and its supporters, this figure rose progressively in the final hours of the war, reaching up to 90% of the missiles hitting their intended targets, seriously damaging their defense systems."
He stressed that in this battle, for the first time, the Islamic Republic of Iran used some of its missiles such as Fattah, Sejjil, and Kheibar Shekan, which gradually changed the battlefield equation in favor of Iran. "Nearly 150 targets were designated for our missiles, all of which were struck. Unlike the cowardly Zionist regime, which targeted military commanders, scientists, innocent women and children, civilian infrastructure and industrial centers, residential homes, medical centers, relief forces, prisons, and the national media, the Islamic Republic of Iran deliberately chose its missile targets in the occupied territories from among military centers—especially air bases, intelligence centers, research centers including the Weizmann Institute, the command and control center in Be’er Sheva, the Mossad headquarters, and the Ministry of Defense—which played a key role in the regime’s offensive attacks against our country."
Brigadier General Nasirzadeh stated that the casualty figures announced by the Zionist regime’s military personnel—even if assumed accurate—together with the 12 to 20 billion dollars of losses estimated by the Westerners and the Zionist regime, demonstrate the accuracy of Iranian missiles in hitting designated military targets. The regime’s intense news censorship and its fear of revealing the scale and locations of damages is further evidence of the success of the operations of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In fact, the regime’s officials themselves are well aware of the depth of the inflicted damages.
Iran's Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics stressed that this achievement of the armed forces was realized while the opponent of the Islamic Republic of Iran in this conflict was not merely the Zionist regime but its supporters, such as the US and some European countries. "On the other hand stood the Islamic Republic of Iran, which, after more than 40 years of sanctions, relied solely on the capabilities of its fully indigenous defense industries."
"In the middle of the war, the United States—which undoubtedly had coordinated the Zionist regime’s illegitimate attack on Iran and provided extensive intelligence and logistical support during the war—violated all principles of the UN Charter and the NPT treaty by attacking the peaceful nuclear facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran, all of which were under the supervision of the IAEA. This attack, in fact, constituted an assault on the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of an independent country by a permanent member of the Security Council. Unfortunately, international organizations and institutions such as the Security Council, under US influence and the support of some European powers, including European members of the Security Council, not only failed to react to this aggression but even encouraged the regime to continue its attacks."
Nasirzadeh emphasized that the bitter, absurd, and undeniable reality of this war was the deafening silence of international and so-called human rights organizations.
"When the Islamic Republic of Iran realized that the US had openly and directly stepped into the battlefield to support the Zionist regime and attacked peaceful nuclear facilities, with the utmost restraint and to prevent the expansion of war into the region—and despite having many potential American targets in the region—it limited itself to striking only one of the US's largest bases in the region, “Al-Udeid,” with a limited number of missiles (14 missiles). Although the US President—whose main futile goal seems to be receiving a peace prize—initially denied the impact of this strike to satisfy his political supporters in Congress, it later became clear that the precision-guided missiles destroyed some of the radar facilities stationed at Al-Udeid Base completely."
"After the missile strike on Al-Udeid Base, some regional governments conveyed the US government’s message regarding a ceasefire to Iran, which, in fact, reflected the Zionist regime’s desperation in continuing the war. The Islamic Republic of Iran, while insisting on preserving its principles and positions and that the initiator of the war must be punished by the international community, accepted the ceasefire on the condition that the last response would belong to Iran."
"In fact, the Islamic Republic of Iran agreed to the ceasefire with the aim of preventing the expansion of crisis and war in the region. However, we have no trust in the Zionist regime and its supporter, the US, and their adherence to commitments. Should the other side continue its adventurism and hostilities, this time Iran’s response, given our knowledge of the enemy’s weaknesses, will be deadly, surprising, painful, and beyond calculation."
He concluded by saying that the defense industry and defense technologies in Iran, within the framework of a decisive and effective deterrence strategy and for the purpose of ensuring national security against the greed and threats of enemies, are at the same time messengers of peace and stability in the region. "Our message to the regional countries is peace, security, prosperity, and joint economic development through understanding, dialogue, respect, and mutual confidence-building. On this basis, the International Affairs Department of the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as the body in charge of defense diplomacy, is fully prepared to interact and cooperate with the countries you represent."
MNA