Iranian general claims missiles can pass Iron Dome

Deputy chief of Iranian armed forces warns Israeli strike could lead to the Jewish state's annihilation, Fars reports.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
IDF soldiers at Iron Dome battery site near Ashkelon 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
IDF soldiers at Iron Dome battery site near Ashkelon 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Iranian missiles can penetrate the Iron Dome rocket-defense system, Brig.-Gen. Masoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of the Iranian armed forces said Thursday, according to Iranian news agency Fars.
"There is no iron dome in the world that we cannot pierce through," Fars quoted him as saying. "What is said about this dome (the Iron Dome) is mostly psychological warfare and propaganda."
He also labelled Israeli threats to strike Iran's nuclear facilities as psychological warfare, contending that the IDF lacks the military capability to attack the Islamic Republic.
Jazayeri further accused Israel of having "serious vulnerabilities," and warned that an Israeli decision to strike Iran could lead to the Jewish state's annihilation.
Click here for full Jpost coverage of the Iranian threat
Click here for full Jpost coverage of the Iranian threat
Last month, Fars quoted an Iranian military official as saying that the incursion by an unmanned aircraft into Israeli airspace exposed the weakness of Israeli air defenses.
The Israeli air force shot down a drone after it crossed into southern Israel, the military said, but it remained unclear where the aircraft had come from.
Jamaluddin Aberoumand, deputy coordinator for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said the incident indicated that Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile defense system "does not work and lacks the necessary capacity", Fars news agency reported.
The Iron Dome system, jointly funded with the United States, is designed to shoot down short-range guerrilla rockets, not slow-flying aircraft. It intercepted more than 80 percent of the targets it engaged in March when nearly 300 rockets and mortars were fired at southern Israel, the Pentagon said at the time.
Reuters contributed to this report