Tag Archives: Iran-Iraq War

Iran Vaunts Benefits of State-Owned Construction Company

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IRGC Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami and Commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters Brigadier General Abdolreza Abed touring preparations for the Grand Mosalla Mosque of Tehran, IRNA (State Media) in March 2024.

“The enemy wanted to prove that ‘we can’t,’ and we had to prove that ‘we can,’ therefore, we were able to overcome the sanctions policy with the power of Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters.”

Iran claims it has been able to circumvent sanctions thanks to an infrastructure entity blacklisted by the United States: the Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Company (KAA). In an address published by state-aligned outlet Moniban News, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salami cheered: “The enemy wanted to prove that ‘we can’t,’ and we had to prove that ‘we can,’ therefore, we were able to overcome the sanctions policy with the power of Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters.”

Established during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), KAA functions as the IRGC’s lead contractor for civilian construction projects as well as its nuclear and ballistic missile projects. This resulted in its blacklist designation by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in 2010, given that its subsidiaries are known to funnel money to the IRGC and are used to fund its activities at home and abroad.[i] In the first excerpted article Salami noted that the KAA has helped the country be more independent and is a “powerful response” to sanctions playing a role in at least thirty sectors, including road and urban development, energy, marine, and oil sectors, and hospital construction. The KAA is considered one of the three main pillars of the IRGC-run economy. (The others are the Basij Cooperative Foundation and IRGC Cooperative Foundation.) Beyond its ability to help Iran circumvent sanctions, KAA has played an important role related to educational and employment opportunities. As per the second excerpted article from the Iranian state-run Entekhab News, Salami also emphasized that KAA has provided opportunities for university students not just in the field of engineering but all higher degrees. Additionally, it has prevented brain drain, a historic problem for Iran that has only increased in recent years due to the dire state of the Iranian economy due to U.S. sanctions and systemic mismanagement and corruption. While Iranian officials tend to fluctuate on whether U.S. sanctions on the country have impacted the economy, the recent comments by the IRGC Commander about the KAA seem to confirm that the punitive measures are not putting the necessary strain on the clerical establishment to change its behavior in the region.

Sources:

“سردار سلامی: بدلیل قدرت قرارگاه سازندگی خاتم الانبیا (ص) از تحریم عبور کردیم (General Salami: Due to the strength of Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters, we overcame sanctions),” Moniban News (State-aligned news. outlet), 3 March 2024.

https://www.moniban.ir/%D8%A8%D8%AE%D8%B4-%D8%B3%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%B3%DB%8C-3/203934-%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%DB%8C-%D8%A8%D8%AF%D9%84%DB%8C%D9%84-%D9%82%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%AA-%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B1%DA%AF%D8%A7%D9%87-%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%B2%D9%86%D8%AF%DA%AF%DB%8C-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%A8%DB%8C%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%B1%DB%8C%D9%85-%D8%B9%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%B1-%DA%A9%D8%B1%D8%AF%DB%8C%D9%85

Major General Salami added: One of the biggest things the construction headquarters did was refuting the enemy’s particular thinking in this regard. The enemy wanted to prove that ‘we can’t’, and we had to prove that ‘we can,’ therefore, we were able to overcome the sanctions policy with the power of Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters and jihadist bodies like the headquarters.

In explaining the hostile sanctions of Iran’s enemies, the IRGC commander stated: The sanctions policy was not a subjective and unrealistic policy, but rather an operational policy of the enemy, and it was completely objective, real, and tangible. But Islamic Iran, with the jihadist forces of Khatam al-Anbiya, was able to surpass and defeat the enemies of the Iranian nation.

In explaining the ethos of the Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters, he said: The ethos of the Khatam headquarters is not just providing technical work, but rather this headquarters is the heart of the revolution and its ethos is to preserve the political independence of the country, to restore the national self-confidence, and actually making the country not rely on the presence of foreigners, and follows this policy text in its basic actions, and for this reason, it undertakes great works and accepts risks…

Today, the Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters is playing a role in at least thirty various sectors: road and urban development, energy, marine, oil, hospital construction and unique buildings, and the subway.

The commander-in-chief of the IRGC states: The Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters has expanded in various specialized fields, which is a powerful response to the enemy’s sanctions.

“فرمانده کل سپاه: قرارگاه خاتم‌الانبیا جلوی فرار مغز‌ها را گرفت (IRGC Commander-in-chief: Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters prevented the minds from escaping),” Entekhab News (state-run media), 3 March 2023.

https://www.entekhab.ir/fa/news/768073/%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%87-%DA%A9%D9%84-%D8%B3%D9%BE%D8%A7%D9%87-%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B1%DA%AF%D8%A7%D9%87-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%85%E2%80%8C%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%A8%DB%8C%D8%A7-%D8%AC%D9%84%D9%88%DB%8C-%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%BA%D8%B2%E2%80%8C%D9%87%D8%A7-%D8%B1%D8%A7-%DA%AF%D8%B1%D9%81%D8%AA

General Salami emphasized that the Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters has prevented elite minds from leaving the country. He said: The Khatam headquarters has provided a wide and modern field for technical and industrial elites of our country, and every engineer and doctor with any degree of education can fulfill their dreams during their time at university at the Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters.

Notes:

[i] The Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters was designated in 2010 by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. See: “Treasury Targets Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, 10 February 2010. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/tg539

Image Information:

Image: IRGC Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami and Commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters Brigadier General Abdolreza Abed touring preparations for the Grand Mosalla Mosque of Tehran, IRNA (State Media) in March 2024.
Source: https://www.irna.ir/news/85406994/%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%DB%8C-%D8%AF%D8%B4%D9%85%D9%86-%D9%85%DB%8C-%D8%AE%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%AF-%D9%85%D9%84%D8%AA-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B1%D8%A7-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%AD%D9%88%D8%B2%D9%87-%D8%B3%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%B3%DB%8C-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%87-%D9%86%D8%B4%DB%8C%D9%86
Attribution: CCA-SA 4.0 Intl.

Iranian Navy Conducts Ballistic Missile Launches From Warship

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“The moment the Dezful ballistic missile is fired from the Shahid Mahdavi warship in the form of a launch container,” Telegram video screenshot, 13 February 2024

“Nowhere is safe for powers who seek to threaten our security.”

Iran has successfully test-fired two unidentified long-range ballistic missiles with a range of 1,700 kilometers (1,056 miles) from the Shahid Mahdavi, a converted cargo ship operating in the Gulf of Oman. According to the excerpted article published by the news outlet Mehr News Agency, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami commented on the first-time launches with a warning: “Nowhere is safe for powers who seek to threaten our security.” The Shahid Mahdavi functions as a multipurpose aircraft carrier capable of carrying an array of military hardware, including air defense systems, drones, radars, and missiles.[i] The ballistic missiles reportedly hit targets in the Kavir Desert in central Iran.

Iran has the most extensive and diverse missile arsenal in the Middle East and North Africa. It is also the only country to possess a 2,000-kilometer range missile without a nuclear weapon capability.[ii] Iranian officials maintain that Tehran’s decision to acquire ballistic missiles was prompted by the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) in order to deter future missile attacks by enemy countries.[iii] Calling the launch a “success,” Salami was quoted in the first excerpted article as saying that “the range of influence of [Iran’s] sea power has increased to any desired point.”[iv] The second excerpted article from the Iranian media source Khabar Online reports that Salami highlighted that the IRGC is “determined to powerfully defend national security, national interests, and the achievements” of Iran. As tensions in the region remain elevated as part of the Gaza war, and as Iran-backed Houthi rebels continue to attack ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, this new development underscores what happens when Tehran is unchecked by the international community.

Sources:

“شلیک موشک بالستیک دوربرد از ناو جنگی سپاه (Launch of long-range ballistic missile from IRGC warship),” Mehr News Agency (semi-official news agency owned by Iranian government’s Islamic Development Organization), 12 February 2024.

https://www.mehrnews.com/news/6022735/%D8%B4%D9%84%DB%8C%DA%A9-%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B4%DA%A9-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%AA%DB%8C%DA%A9-%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%88-%D8%AC%D9%86%DA%AF%DB%8C-%D8%B3%D9%BE%D8%A7%D9%87

Referring to the strength of the IRGC Navy, Major General Salami stated: Our offensive power and naval defense, with the arrival of a multitude of drones, cruise missiles, and even ballistic missiles with the ability to target combat vessels at sea, are very complex and show an interweaving of a combination of up-to-date, advanced, and modern capabilities.

He continued: “In the IRGC Navy, we had new achievements. The first issue was the joint work between the Air Force and IRGC Navy with the launch of a long-range ballistic missile from a warship that was successfully achieved, and with this new success, the range of influence of our sea power has increased to any desired point.”

The IRGC commander-in-chief, also referring to the other capabilities of the IRGC Navy, emphasized: “The oceanliner (warships) can appear anywhere in the oceans, and naturally, when they can launch missiles, nowhere is safe for powers who seek to threaten our security.”

“شلیک موشک بالستیک دوربرد سپاه پاسداران از روی یک ناو جنگی به روایت سردار سلامی (Firing a Revolutionary Guards long-range ballistic missile on a warship according to General Salami),” Khabar Online (Iranian news website affiliated with reformist political factions), 12 February 2024.

https://www.khabaronline.ir/news/1872279/%D8%B4%D9%84%DB%8C%DA%A9-%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B4%DA%A9-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%AA%DB%8C%DA%A9-%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%AF-%D8%B3%D9%BE%D8%A7%D9%87-%D9%BE%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D8%B1%D9%88%DB%8C-%DB%8C%DA%A9-%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%88-%D8%AC%D9%86%DA%AF%DB%8C-%D8%A8%D9%87

According to Khabar Online News Agency, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander-in-Chief General Hossein Salami said in a televised interview with the Revolutionary Guards program on Channel One: “In the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, we are always ready to give our lives for the great Iranian nation and are determined to powerfully defend national security, national interests, and the achievements of the Islamic revolution and must stand against all threats and dangers with all our strength and prevent the formation of new equilibriums in the field of the country’s national security.”

Notes:

[i] The test launch on the Shahid Mahdavi, which was released on video, was a joint project between the IRGC Navy (IRGCN) and Air Force. The type of ballistic missiles used in the exercise was not verified, as several state media outlets have named various missiles with an array of ranges.

[ii] Michael Elleman, “Iran’s Ballistic Missile Program,” Iran Primer, 13 January 2021. https://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/irans-ballistic-missile-program

[iii] Kamran Taremi, “Ballistic Missiles in Iran’s Military Thinking,” Wilson Center, 14 October 2023. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/ballistic-missiles-irans-military-thinking

[iv] United Nations Security Council Resolution, UNSCR 2231, which once constrained Iran’s ballistic missile-related tests and transfers, expired in October 2023. For additional information, see: “Arms embargo on Iran expires despite US opposition,” Al Jazeera, 18 October 2023. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/18/arms-embargo-on-iran-expires-despite-us-opposition

Image Information:

Image: “The moment the Dezful ballistic missile is fired from the Shahid Mahdavi warship in the form of a launch container,” Telegram video screenshot, 13 February 2024
Source: https://t.me/SEPAHCYBERY/83945
Attribution: IRGC Cyber Telegram Channel

Iran Unveils New Thermobaric Warhead

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An Iranian Fajr-5 rocket launch, February 6, 2017

An Iranian Fajr-5 rocket launch, February 6, 2017.

“Fajr-5 missiles…are now equipped with a new warhead with greater destructive power.”

Iran has long been an indigenously equipped military power,[i] and the Iranian press seemingly announces new weapons every few weeks. However, these announcements are often exaggerations As not every prototype makes it into the arsenals of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) or the regular army. Those that do are apparent on the battlefield and across the broader region: Mohajer[GRLCUT(1]  and Ababil [GRLCUT(2] drones,[ii] Moudge-class destroyers, and Fateh-110 [RG3] and Fajr-5 missiles, for example. The Fajr-5 missile is an IRGC staple, which[iii] Tehran has acknowledged giving to U.S.-designated Palestinian terrorist groups. In 2012, a Fajr-5 fired by Hamas hit on an apartment building just outside Tel Aviv.  It is against this backdrop that reports like the accompanying article from IRGC news affiliate Tasnim News Agency, about a new, upgraded warhead for the Fajr-5 are notable. While Iranian press discussion focuses on the thermobaric warhead’s potential for Iran’s own counterterror fight, presumably against Kurdish and Baluchi separatists (respectively located in the country’s rugged northwest and southeast border regions), regional states and actors should assume that the IRGC will not limit a new thermobaric warhead solely to use in its domestic arsenal. Discussion of warhead stability also implies safer shipping and handling by groups less well-trained than the Iranian military. Should reports about the thermobaric warhead be accurate, a greater blast radius like that produced by the new thermobaric warhead, especially when fired against urban targets, will increase damage and lower the threshold for retaliation.

Source:

“Roketha-ye Fajr-5 Sepah Termobaric Shod (Revolutionary Guards’ Fajr-5 Rockets are now Thermobaric),” Tasnim News Agency (news agency affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), 8 May 2023. https://www.tasnimnews.com/fa/news/1402/02/17/2887806

…The test of the new type of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)’s Fajr-5 rocket equipped with thermobaric warhead has been successfully completed. The IRGC’s 333-mm Fajr-5 missiles, which had previously been delivered to the force as the Fajr-5C rocket, are now equipped with a new warhead with greater destructive power. This new warhead, produced by specialists of the IRGC’s Ground Force’s Self-Sufficiency Research and Jihad, has an explosive power of 1.5 times that of TNT, resulting in a greater radius of destruction and thermal effects. In addition, its lower sensitivity compared with TNT makes it safer to use than conventional warheads.

…When this type of ammunition explodes in the indoor space of underground bunkers or trenches, its destructive pressure stays in the shelter’s enclosed space for longer and causes more destruction, and thus is an efficient weapon for clearing fortifications and trenches….This new type of combat head for these rockets, due to their specific type of performance, is also a suitable weapon to deal with terrorist groups, especially in mountainous and difficult areas because these groups create shelters and strongholds in these areas using natural effects or engineering measures.

Notes:

[i] While many of Iran’s neighbors purchase off-the-shelf platforms and weaponry from the global arms market, the isolation Iran suffered during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War changed Iran’s strategic doctrine to favor production rather than acquisition of armaments. For more information, see: Michael Rubin, “Iran: Domestic Weapons Production Up 69 Percent,” OE Watch, March 2017. https://community.apan.org/wg/tradoc-g2/fmso/m/oe-watch-past-issues/195239/download

[ii] For previous reporting on Fajr-5 development, see: Michael Rubin, “Iran: IRGC Debuts New Explosive Plant,” OE Watch, July 2016. https://community.apan.org/wg/tradoc-g2/fmso/m/oe-watch-past-issues/195435

[iii] For background, see: Michael Rubin, “A Short History of the Iranian Drone Program,” American Enterprise Institute, 26 August 2020. https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/a-short-history-of-the-iranian-drone-program/

Image Information:

Image: An Iranian Fajr-5 rocket launch, February 6, 2017
Source: https://newsmedia.tasnimnews.com/Tasnim/Uploaded/Image/1395/11/18/139511181130493069920644.jpg
Attribution: Tasnim News Agency