Associated Press,
TEHRAN, Iran: A top Iranian commander accused U.S. and British intelligence agents of fomenting unrest in southwestern Iran and threatened to respond with missiles if attacked.
Iran's improved version of the Shahab-3 missile can strike more than 1,300 miles from their launch site, putting Israel and U.S. forces in the Middle East in easy range.
Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, the chief of the Revolutionary Guards, said the United States and Britain were behind bombings Jan. 21 that killed at least nine people in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, near the southern border with Iraq where 8,500 British soldiers are based.
“Foreign forces based in Iraq, especially southern Iraq, direct Iranian agents and give them bomb materials,” he said in remarks carried by state-run television.
“We have no intention to invade any country. We will take effective defense measures if attacked,” he said. “These missiles are in the possession of the Guards.”
Iran's Revolutionary Guards are a separate organization from the regular armed forces. Founded after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Guards have their own air, naval and ground components.
The Guards were equipped with the missiles in July 2003.
Iran announced last year that it had fully developed solid fuel technology for missiles, a major breakthrough that increases their accuracy.
