“Following a proposal by the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), [Iran’s] Defense Industries [Organization] manufactured a 10-ton bomb. These bombs are at our disposal.
They can be launched from Ilyushin aircraft and they are highly destructive,” IRGC Aerospace Force Commander Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said in a Friday TV interview.
The commander referred to the ordnance as Iran’s “father of all bombs” as compared with the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), also known as the “mother of all bombs,” which the US Air Force dropped on tunnels in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province from an MC-130 aircraft in April.
The MOAB weighs about 22,000 pounds (9,800 kg), and was said to be the most powerful non-nuclear weapon ever designed.
It was developed during the US war on Iraq and is intended to target large below-surface areas.
Iran has repeatedly insisted that its military capabilities are solely aimed for defense purposes and they pose no threat to other countries.
The country has also been assisting its allies, including Iraq and Syria, in their ongoing fight against terrorism.
In June, the IRGC fired six medium-range ballistic missiles at Daesh targets in northeastern Dayr al-Zawr province in response to a June 7 terrorist attack in Tehran, which killed 18 people.
The IRGC said the missiles killed more than 170 Takfiri terrorists, including a number of commanders and senior elements, and inflicted heavy damage on their equipment and systems.
This still image from broadcast footage shows an IRGC ballistic missile being fired from Iran at Takfiri targets in eastern Syria on June 18, 2017.
Washington has on several occasions slapped new sanctions against Iran over its missile program.
The United States claims that Iran’s missile tests and rocket launches violate UN Resolution 2231, which was adopted in July 2015 to endorse the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.
Iran has strongly rejected the US allegations that it has violated the UN resolution, and insists that its missile tests and rocket launches are solely for defense purposes and not designed to carry nuclear warheads.
Hajizadeh also claimed to have infiltrated American bases in Iraq and Syria, according to a report by the Washington Free Beacon.
“We have infiltrated into the Americans’ command control centers over the recent years.
“We have been present there.
We saw what locations they were observing and targeting.”
In other news, the U.S. is concerned over possible Iranian violations of the nuclear agreement signed with previous US President Barack Obama.
Nevertheless, President Trump signed a sanctions waiver last week that was promised as part of the deal.
