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Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Iran puts the "miss" in "missile" (Daled Amos)



This past Sunday, Iran fired a series of missiles at ISIS terrorist bases in eastern Syria, in retaliation for the 2 terrorist attacks in Tehran on June 7.

Iran's Tasnim News Agency reported the the retaliation was A Warning to Foolish Troublemakers:
The “limited missile raid” by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps against terrorist positions in Syria’s eastern region of Deir ez-Zor unveiled part of the Iranian Armed Forces’ assault and deterrent capabilities, Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said Monday.

The strike was also a “crushing response and a warning” to those seeking to ignite tensions with their troublemaking and ignorant ambitions, he added.

Late on Sunday, the IRGC fired six missiles, including high-precision Zolfaqar missiles, at various targets in Deir ez-Zor within a range of 650 to 700 kilometers.
But as it turned out, the Iranian missile display really wasn't all that crushing.

In fact most of the Iranian ballistic missiles failed to reach their intended targets. Ehud Ya’ari of Israel’s Channel 2 reported that of the 7 missiles that Iran launched, only one managed to reach its intended target in Syria. Of the others, 3 missiles crashed into Iraq, one landed a few hundred meters short of the target, another landed in the Deir Ezzor area and the location of the last missile was unknown.

Of course, that did not stop Iran from having video available as a testament to their missile-launching prowess.



Still, at least Iran's claim was not as contrived as in years past.

In 2008, Honest Reporting revealed an example of Iranian fauxtography where the photo below appeared on the web site of Sepah News, the PR news service of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.


Later, the photo was replaced with this, the actual, original one:


Little Green Football showed how parts of the original photo were reused in order to hide the fact that of the 4 rockets -- one had failed to fire.



In 2013, The Telegraph reported on another example of Iranian fake photography when the paper revealed that a picture of Iran's premier fighter jet patrolling the skies was in fact a fraud.


A picture of the Iranian Qaher 313 -- a jet that was dismissed as a model that was not even capable of flight -- was found with the same shadow and light as the one flying over Iran's Mt Damavand.



In addition, a stock photo of Mt. Damavand was found that was very similar to the one in the fake photo.



So while the threat of Iran acquiring a nuclear bomb is very real and very serious, their technology is not as advanced as they would have the West believe.

When it comes to Iran's ballistic missiles, the fact that Iran can miss their intended target reminds one of Hamas, whose rockets have been known to land close to home. After all, doesn't Hamas get supplies and material from Iran?

On the other hand, keep in mind that it is likely that Iran gets some of its own missile technology from North Korea, and while North Korea is an unpredictable threat that cannot be dismissed, 2 rocket launchings failed in April just 2 weeks apart.

Is the fact that both countries have had such spectacular fails proof they are helping each other?

[Hat tip: DG]



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