TEHRAN, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia has said that if necessary, the country will carry out preemptive military operations to prevent any "aggression by the enemy."
He made the remarks in an interview with the semi-official Fars news agency, which was published on Wednesday, while stressing that Iranian armed forces had previously launched such operations against the "enemy."
Akraminia said the country has changed its military doctrine from being defensive to offensive and has followed it in the war with the United States and Israel.
He noted among the operations carried out by the Iranian armed forces based on the new doctrine were a missile strike against a U.S. base in Jordan in late July, as well as several missile and drone attacks over the past months against the bases of the "counter-revolutionary and separatist" groups stationed in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
He added the strike against the U.S. base, which was preemptive, "wrested the initiative from them and left them unable to take any action."
Akraminia stressed that carrying out preemptive operations while adhering to principles, such as necessity, urgency, and proportionality, is considered "legitimate."
Commenting on the possibility of a ground invasion by the United States against Iran, he said, "My assessment is that the Americans will not dare launch a ground invasion."
Akraminia said Iran's Army has decided to work on increasing the range of its missiles following the war with the United States and Israel.
"In this war, we came to the conclusion that we must definitely increase the range of our missiles, and we have now embarked on that path," he noted, adding the reason is that the "enemy" has deployed its forces at a greater distance from Iran's coasts, up to 1,000 kilometers away, "and we will continue to upgrade these missiles."
Akraminia underlined that Iran has also significantly upgraded the speed and precision of its missiles, noting that future generations will be even faster and more precise.
On Feb. 28, Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and other Iranian cities. Iran responded with waves of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and U.S. bases and assets in the region, and tightened its grip on the Strait of Hormuz.
A ceasefire was achieved between the warring parties on April 8. On June 18, Iran and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on ending the war in the region on all fronts.
Under the MoU, the two countries were scheduled to hold negotiations within 60 days, ending on Aug. 17, to reach a final agreement. However, the two sides failed to make sufficient progress toward a deal as tensions continued to escalate. ■
