US can expect 'slap in the face' if it underestimates Iran's defensive capabilities, commander says

The US should expect a "slap in the face" if it makes the mistake of underestimating Iran's defensive capacity, an elite commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday, (22 February).

General Mohammad Pakpour, chief of the Guards' ground forces, said: "The enemy should not be mistaken in its assessments, and it will receive a strong slap in the face if it does make such a mistake."

Tehran concluded three days of war games with rockets, tanks, artillery and helicopters on Wednesday. It comes just a few weeks after the United States threatened to put Iran "on notice" over its ballistic missile test on 29 January.

Speaking about the exercises, Pakpour said: "The message of these exercises ... for world arrogance is not to do anything stupid."

"Everyone could see today what power we have on the ground," he added. The Guards said they used drones in the three-day exercises held in eastern and central Iran as well as test-fired "advanced rockets".

The Iranian government insists its missile programme is for defence and has nothing to do with the 2015 nuclear deal it signed with world powers.

Trump had repeatedly said during his campaign and in his role as president that it was the worst deal ever negotiated and told his supporters that he would either rip it up or negotiate a better one.

As Iran's tensions with Israel also mounted, a military analyst at Tasnim news agency said Hezbollah, Tehran's ally, could use Fateh 110 missiles to attack an Israeli nuclear reactor in Dimona from Lebanon.

"Since Lebanon's Hezbollah is one of the chief holders of the Fateh 110, this missile is one of main alternatives for targeting the Dimona installations," Hossein Dalirian said in an opinion piece.