Iran on Sunday paraded through Tehran dozens of advanced missiles with ranges of up to 2,000km. Iranian media made clear what the take-away was supposed to be:

The naval chief of the elite Revolutionary Guards was meanwhile quoted as saying that Iran has the capability to strike US warships in the Gulf. “We have the necessary equipment to destroy American aircraft carries (sic) and warplanes in the Gulf,” the ISNA news agency quoted Admiral Ali Fadavi as saying.

The military display, which coincided both with the anniversary of the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war and with what has been touted as an irenic trip to New York by Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, involved 30 Ghadr and Sejil missiles, solid-fueled ballistic missiles. Iranian media outlets also carried boasts to the effect that such rockets had transformed Iran into a global power:

A senior military advisor to the Supreme Leader said on Sunday that Iran has emerged as an influential power in the world by possessing missiles with a range of 2,000 kilometers. Major General Yahya Rahim-Safavi, the former commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, made the remarks on the sidelines of a military parade marking the Sacred Defense Week.

A Pentagon report released earlier this year estimated that that Tehran could test an intercontinental ballistic missile by 2015, especially given assistance it is widely suspected of receiving from rogue regimes.

[Photo: citystars ali / YouTube]