Iran warns strikes will expand as air defenses down more Israeli, US drones

Iran says its retaliatory campaign will intensify in the coming days, with military officials vowing expanded strikes while air defenses continue to intercept Israeli and US aircraft and drones across the country.

Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said Israel has attempted to hide its military resources among civilian areas but Iranian forces are continuing to locate and strike them.

“The cowardly military forces and facilities of the Zionist regime have hidden in civilian and public layers,” Zolfaghari said on Thursday night. “But the detection and striking of the aggressors will continue, and in the coming days the trend of attacks will become more intense and widespread.”

He added that Iranian air defenses on Thursday intercepted and destroyed advanced enemy aircraft over several regions of the country.

“Early this morning, our forces tracked and destroyed one F-15E fighter jet and a total of four advanced reconnaissance-combat drones — Hermes 900 and MQ-9 — in the skies over the western, southwestern and southern regions of our country,” he said.

According to Zolfaghari, the latest interceptions bring the total number of enemy drones shot down by Iranian armed forces to more than 75 since the US-Israeli aggression began last Saturday.

Iranian Khayber missiles pierce Tel Aviv’s defenses in massive joint strike

Iranian aerospace forces launched the 21st wave of Operation True Promise 4 early Friday morning, utilizing swarms of suicide drones and the advanced Khayber missiles with cluster warheads to saturate and bypass the Zionist regime

The developments come after the United States and Israel launched a new round of aerial aggression against Iran on February 28, eight months after their earlier unprovoked attacks.

Those strikes led to the martyrdom of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and more than 1,200 civilians, including women, children and senior military commanders.

Iran responded swiftly, launching waves of missile and drone strikes against Israeli-occupied territories as well as US bases across the region.

Iranian officials say the war was imposed on the country and that its military campaign is a legitimate act of self-defense.

'Iran has not closed the Strait of Hormuz'

Brigadier General Mohammad Akrami-Nia, spokesman for the Iranian Army, said on Thursday the current instability in regional waters is the direct result of American actions.

“Iran has not closed the Strait of Hormuz,” he said. “This strait has become unsafe by itself due to the mischief of the Americans, and this insecurity has caused shipping companies to lack the courage to pass through the area.”

He warned that restoring stability to the vital waterway may take time. “One of the results of this war is that it is no longer clear when security will return to this region,” Akrami-Nia said.

“The previous order will be very difficult to restore. But we hope that through the actions of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the countries of the region, order will once again return to this strait.”

The army spokesman emphasized that Iran had not sought the conflict.

“We have entered a war that was an unwanted war,” he said. “For us, this war is a sacred and legitimate war because we are defending ourselves. Therefore the motivation and determination of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran is far greater than that of the enemies.”

IRGC strikes critical Israeli military sites with Khorramshahr-4 missiles in latest wave

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced early Wednesday that its Aerospace Force launched heavy Khorramshahr-4 ballistic missiles toward key Israeli military and infrastructure targets in the 19th wave of True Promise 4 Operation.

Akrami-Nia noted that Tehran had previously warned Washington about the consequences of initiating hostilities.

“We had warned earlier that if a war started, US bases throughout the region would certainly be targeted,” he said. “We said we would strike, and we did. We warned that this war would become regional, and that also happened. We said we would respond immediately, and we did.”

He stressed that Iran harbors no hostility toward neighboring countries despite the widening conflict.

“If today countries of the region and US bases in these countries have been targeted, the responsibility lies with America,” he said. “The Islamic Republic of Iran absolutely has no hostile intention toward the countries of the region and has very brotherly relations with the Muslim countries of the region.”

“But when a war breaks out,” he added, “its flames may spread to the surroundings. The responsibility for this fire lies with America.”

Iranian forces, he said, are prepared for a prolonged confrontation if necessary.

“We are fighting in a managed way,” Akrami-Nia said. “We had prepared in advance for a long war, and today we can continue fighting for as long as the country’s officials decide.”

USS Abraham Lincoln flees after precision strike by IRGC drones in Sea of Oman

IRGC Navy has targeted the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier using advanced drones, forcing the strike group into a retreat from Iranian waters.

US, Israel failed in their war goals

Meanwhile, veteran Iranian commander Mohsen Rezaei, who led the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps during the Iran-Iraq war, said the conflict marks a turning point.

“The people should know that their sons in the armed forces will teach the criminal [US President Donald] Trump and [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu such a lesson that they will never again dare such an insult,” he said.

“From today the situation is changing,” Rezaei added. “The nations of the world are happy that a country has emerged that strikes the mouth of America.”

He argued that Washington and Tel Aviv launched the conflict in stages.

“The enemies carried out the first phase of the war in June, the second phase in January, and the third phase in February,” he said. “Trump and Netanyahu, who have dirty and black records, want to escape forward from their disgraceful past.”

Their goal, he said, was to secure a decisive victory against Iran.

“They wanted to achieve a big victory by attacking Iran, assassinating officials, activating terrorists and unrest, and after that occupying the country and devouring Iran’s resources.”

Instead, he said, Iranian forces have achieved significant military successes.

“In the current war we have made good progress in the military fields, which is why dozens of advanced American and Israeli drones have been shot down,” Rezaei said.

He dismissed claims from Washington that US forces could sustain a prolonged conflict.

“Trump’s statement that they can fight for weeks is a big lie,” he said. “And Netanyahu deceived Trump by saying the matter would be finished within 48 hours. Therefore they do not have the ability for a long war — but we do.”

Rezaei also vowed that Iran would not halt its campaign until US forces leave the Persian Gulf.

“This time as well, we will not stop except with the liberation of the Persian Gulf and the cleansing of America from the Persian Gulf,” he said.

Iran won't stop its retaliation until the aggressor is punished: Speaker Ghalibaf

The speaker of Iran

Meanwhile, Iranian air defenses continued to intercept hostile aircraft.

The public relations office of the IRGC’s Sahib al-Zaman Corps in Isfahan announced early Friday that another Israeli spy drone had been destroyed in the skies over the central province.

According to the statement, “the second Heron reconnaissance and combat drone of the Zionist regime was tracked and destroyed by the aerospace defense of the IRGC in the skies of Isfahan.”

The announcement came shortly after Iranian forces had already shot down another Heron drone that was patrolling over the same area.

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