Iran unveils missile site, vows dire response to sanctions snapback

In a new round of muscle show, Iran and US are showing off their military readiness as well as drumming up the hostile rhetoric.

The Islamic Revolution Guard Corps Aerospace Force of Iran unveiled one of its largest underground ballistic missile sites introduced as “Missile City” on Tuesday, and spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran warned of a severe retaliation against to the Western countries attempting to reimpose UNSC sanctions over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.

TV footage showed the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri and IRGC Aerospace Force Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh unveiling the new missile site packed with hundreds of projectiles.

The footage of “missile city” was broadcast after unconfirmed reports said US President Donald Trump in his recent letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei has threatened Iran with a two-month deadline to start negotiations over rolling back its nuclear program or face a military confrontation.

There are reports of a significant force of US stealth bombers en route to the strategic British-controlled island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and satellite imagery revealing a buildup of support aircraft, including cargo planes and aerial refueling tankers, deployed within the last 48 hours, to boost US ongoing attacks on Yemen.

While Iranian authorities do not reject talks with the US in principle, they maintain Tehran will not enter any negotiations under Trump administration’s bullying tactics which US has dubbed as the Maximum Pressure campaign.

"The unjust use of the trigger mechanism will ensue an appropriate and severe response from Iran," said Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi after threats by Britain, France, and Germany to activate the mechanism under the 2015 nuclear deal. He dismissed the threat of snapback of UN sanctions in October as "hollow and empty”.

With nuclear states in its neighborhood, Iran and world powers signed the nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) 2015 in Vienna agreeing to limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.

However, the US withdrew in 2018 under Trump’s first presidency and reimposed sanctions, prompting Iran to scale back its commitments under the deal. Talks to revive the deal remain inconclusive since 2021.

"One of the pressure tools that Western countries are talking about these days is the use of the trigger mechanism. It is truly ridiculous that they want to punish Iran for a violation that others committed," Mehr News Agency quoted the spokesman saying. 

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