Iran has equipped 51 of its cities with civil defense systems and increased air defense readiness to thwart any possible foreign attack, military officials said on Saturday, amid escalating tensions with Israel and the United States. The civil defense equipment will allow Iran to “identify and monitor threats using continuous software according to the type of threat and risk,” Deputy Defense Minister Brigadier General Mehdi Farahi was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
“These days, depending on the strength of countries, the form of battles has become more complicated,” Farahi said, adding that hybrid forms of warfare including cyber, biological and radiological attacks have replaced classic wars. He did not name countries that could threaten Iran. Meanwhile, Brigadier General Qader Rahimzadeh, commander of Iran’s Air Defense Command, said readiness was highest among his forces. “The country’s airspace today is the safest for licensed flights and the most dangerous for would-be aggressors,” Rahimzadeh was quoted as saying. the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
In recent years, Iran has accused Israel and the United States of cyber attacks that have disrupted the country’s infrastructure. Iran has also accused Israel of sabotaging its nuclear facilities. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility. US-Iranian military tensions have also long plagued the region. In the latest incident, Iran seized US military sailing ships in the Red Sea earlier this week.
On Tuesday, the US Navy said it foiled an attempt by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards naval forces to capture an unmanned surface vessel operated by the US 5th Fleet in the Persian Gulf. Iran has said the drone poses a danger to maritime traffic. State media also reported that security forces in northern Iran arrested 12 followers of the Baha’i faith. The Islamic Republic has banned the Baha’i faith and considers it a heretical offshoot of Islam, accusing its followers of ties to Israel because the main Baha’i shrine, built more than a century ago, is in Israel.
Human rights groups including Amnesty International have condemned the increased attack on the religious minority in recent months, with dozens of arrests and the destruction of homes. Baha’is claim that hundreds of followers of their faith have been imprisoned and executed since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. The government denies detaining or executing people for their beliefs.
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