Iran answered Retired Gen. Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, Saturday with threats and a new military exercise after Flynn put the country "on notice" Wednesday and imposed new sanctions on Friday.
According to AOL News, Iranian military leadership is using aggressive language to describe Saturday's activities, which included tests of some of the country's missile capabilities. "We are working day and night to protect Iran's security," Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' aerospace unit, told Tasnim news agency.
"If we see [the] smallest misstep from the enemies, our roaring missiles will fall on their heads," he said.
Iranian state news agencies reported that Saturday's drills included tests of the nation's homemade missile systems, radars, command and control centers and cyber warfare systems. This is the second such test since December when Iran showed the world its defense systems capabilities, including their short and medium-range missiles.
Following a ballistic missile test last week that Tehran confirmed Wednesday, TheBlaze reported Friday that Trump had ordered new sanctions on 13 individuals and 12 companies in response to what the U.S. saw as a breach of the Islamic republic's nuclear agreement with world powers. New U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley called the test "unacceptable."
Flynn announced via email Friday that the individuals and businesses receiving new sanctions “provide support to Iran’s ballistic missile program and to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.” The U.S. has long suspected the Quds force of providing assistance in attacks on American soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to CNN.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced the sanctions, with at least five Iranian citizens or individuals with clear ties to Iran, and at least five business entities based in Iran or with offices in Iran, specifically named.
The test Saturday was a direct defiance of Friday's new sanctions according to Iran's Revolutionary Guards' website. The exercise was an attempt to "showcase the power of Iran's revolution and to dismiss the sanctions," the website read.
Iran has one of the Middle East's largest missile programs and has engaged in ballistic missile testing since signing the nuclear deal with then-President Barack Obama's administration in 2015. This is the first test since Trump entered the White House. Trump made a campaign promise to stop Iran's missile program.
