*TEHRAN: The Revolutionary Guards on Sunday accused “enemies” of Iran oftrying to sabotage the country’s missiles so that they would “explodemid-air” but said the bid was foiled.*
“They tried as best as they could to sabotage a small part which we importso that our missiles would not reach their target and explode mid-air,”Fars news agency reported, quoting the Guards’ aerospace commander Amir AliHajizadeh.
“But they couldn’t do a damn thing because we had seen this coming from thestart and had reinforced this sector,” he added, accusing Iran’s “enemies”of sabotage without naming any specific country.
Iran reined in most of its nuclear programme under a landmark 2015 dealwith major powers in return for sanctions relief, but has continued todevelop its ballistic missile technology.
Earlier this month the New York Times reported that the US administrationof President Donald Trump was pushing a secret programme aimed atsabotaging Iranian rockets and missiles.
It said Washington was trying to “slip faulty parts and materials intoIran’s aerospace supply chains” as part of a campaign to undercut Tehran’smilitary.
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In May, Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal known as the JointComprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, and reimposed sanctions on Tehran
UN Security Council Resolution 2231 — adopted just after the nuclear deal —calls on Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missilesdesigned to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons”.
Tehran insists that its missile programme is “purely defensive” andcompliant with the resolution but it has developed medium-range ballisticmissiles capable of reaching Israel.
Hajizadeh, whose remarks were also reported by Tasnim news agency, saidsimilar sabotage attempts had happened before and targeted Iran’s nuclearand oil sectors. – APP/AFP
