IRGC anti-terror strikes in line with defending Iran’s sovereignty, citizens: Foreign Ministry

The Iranian Foreign Ministry says the strikes conducted by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) against terrorists’ positions in Syria and an Israeli espionage center in Iraq were part of the “just punishment” against violators of Iran’s security after a deadly terrorist attack hit the city of Kerman.

“The action was in defense of the country’s sovereignty and security, and countering terrorism, and was a part of the Islamic Republic’s just punishment against violators of the country’s security,” ministry spokesman Nasser Kan'ani said on Tuesday.

“The Islamic Republic has always supported peace, stability, and security in the region and respected other countries' sovereignty, nonetheless, Tehran will not hesitate to exercise its legitimate and legal right to deter all sources of threats against its national security, defend its citizens and punish the criminals,” Kan’ani said

Kan’ani said the terrorist attacks that took place in Iran resulted from a “miscalculation by the enemy”, adding the Islamic Republic launched “a targeted operation” against positions of terrorists using “precise projectiles” after it identified them drawing on its high intelligence capabilities.

“Terrorism is a global threat, and Iran is determined to counter-terrorism within the framework of joint regional and international cooperation,” Kan’ani added.

Early Tuesday, the IRGC said it fired barrages of ballistic missiles at Syrian bases of terrorists who were involved in recent terrorist attacks in Iran, as well as an Israeli espionage center in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.

The IRGC said the first missile strike targeted gathering places of commanders and main elements of recent terrorist attacks in the Iranian cities of Kerman and Rask.

It added that the strike came after gathering points of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group were identified in the occupied territories of Syria and destroyed with a number of ballistic missiles.

The IRGC said in a later statement that another missile strike had been launched at a main espionage center of the Israeli regime’s Mossad spy agency in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

The IRGC added that its missile strike on the Iraqi Kurdistan Region has totally destroyed the Mossad center there. 

Among the key targets was Azhi Amin, a former member of an al-Qaeda affiliate, who was reportedly killed in the IRGC anti-terror attack last night.

The IRGC also noted that the Mossad center was used “to develop espionage operations and plan acts of terrorism” across the region, especially in Iran.

The missile strike against the Mossad center, the statement said, was in retaliation for the recent assassinations of the resistance front’s commanders, especially those of the IRGC, by the Zionist regime.

‘Missiles launched from three provinces’

Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the IRGC’s Aerospace Division, said two dozen missiles were launched from three Iranian provinces during the operation.

According to his remarks, four Kheibar-Shekan missiles were launched from southern Khuzestan to a terrorist position in Syria’s Idlib province.

During a phone call with the chief commander of the IRGC Major General Hossein Salami, Hajizadeh said “At 12 o’clock, everything was done successfully.”

Hajizadeh also said that four ballistic missiles were fired from Kermanshah and seven others from East Azarbaijan to the Mossad spy center.

Meanwhile, he said about nine more missiles targeted other terrorist groups in Syria.

Daesh claimed responsibility for two explosions that killed nearly 100 people and wounded scores of others at a memorial for Iran’s top anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman on January 3.

Last month, another terrorist attack hit a police station in the southeastern Iranian city of Rask, killing 11 police officers and injuring at least six others.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi has said the cause of the terrorist bombings in Kerman can be traced back to the grudge that Zionists hold against Qassem Soleimani as he jeopardized the plans to establish another Israel in the region by creating and backing Daesh terrorist group.

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