TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – After firing missiles targeting the Islamic State group in eastern Syria, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Monday issued a stark warning to IS militants, saying that any future attack against Iran will result in more powerful launches.
The Guard said it launched the strikes on Sunday in retaliation for attacks in Tehran earlier this month that were claimed by the Islamic State group. Iran has been involved in Syria’s long-running civil war, in which it has backed embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Iranian state television quoted Gen. Ramazan Sharif on Monday as saying that “if they (IS) carry out a specific action to violate our security, definitely there will be more launches, with intensified strength.”
He spoke as part of a TV package about the missile launches, showing them shoot off into the night from the western province of Kermanshah. The Guard said it fired six missiles in total from Kermanshah and also from Iran’s Kurdistan province into Syria’s Deir el-Zour province, where IS has been trying to fortify its positions in the face of a U.S.-led coalition onslaught.
But the missiles sent a message to more than just the extremists in Iraq and Syria, Sharif told state television in a telephone interview.