Iranian Air Force chief warns against attack
Brig. Gen. Miqani threatens to destroy anyone who encroaches on Iran's territorial sovereignty, announced forthcoming military exercise designed to assert deterrence
Iranian Air Force commander, Brigadier General Ahmad Miqani, said on Tuesday that," no enemy will be able to freely penetrate Iran's airspace, because the response of Iran's Air Force will destroy them."
Miqani also said that Tehran plans to stage a large-scale aviation exercise "to display the combat and defense capabilities of the Air Force and to create deterrence." His announcement was published in the Iranian FARS news agency.
The Iranian commander referred to the recent US and Israeli threats regarding an attack on Iranian nuclear installments. He said that the threats were made with the intention of scaring Iran and putting the country under pressure.
According to Miqani, “if a step is made compromising Iran’s territorial wholeness, the Iranian Air Force will respond in the shortest time possible and in the most crushing manner causing the complete destruction of the attackers.”
The Iranian Air Force is considered dated, consisting of old US fighter planes including F-4s, F-5s and F-14s. One of its main problems is attaining spare parts.
In light of American sanctions, Iranian Air Force planes are not properly maintained and there is a shortage of spare parts. As a result, there are occasional reports of Iranian plane crashes.
Last week, for instance, it was reported that an F-5 fighter plane crashed in the Khuzestan district in southwest Iran and that two pilots were killed.
In the past few years, the Iranians tried overcoming military sanctions by relying on self production, creating fighter planes modeled on Western aircraft.
The Iranian Air Force also has Russian Sukhoi and MiG fighter jets and 20 Iraqi Migs sent to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards during the First Gulf War, but which were never returned.
