Date: Tuesday, October 15, 2019
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Gary L. Bauer, Director

The Ayatollah's Arsenal

Just days after lying about his regime's interest in nuclear weapons, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urged his Revolutionary Guards to develop more advanced and sophisticated weapons.

During remarks Sunday at the Imam Hossein Military University in Tehran, Khamenei declared: "The Guards should have advanced and modern weapons. . . Your weapons should be modern and updated. . . Today the Guards have a powerful presence inside and outside Iran."

What is Iran doing with these advanced, modern weapons? Using them to threaten Israel and Arab states throughout the Middle East.

The ayatollah and other top Iranian leaders are constantly threatening a second Holocaust by annihilating the Jewish state. Iran is supplying the advanced technology needed to arm Hezbollah with precision-guided missiles. Iran has attempted to launch drone strikes against Israel.

And, as we know, Iran severely damaged major oil facilities in Saudi Arabia with a barrage of drones and cruise missiles.

In a column this weekend, the Wall Street Journal warned that Iran's vastly expanded missile arsenal presents a tremendous threat to the United States, Israel and other nations in the Middle East. Consider these excerpts:

"Iran now has thousands of missiles, many of them able to reach Israel, into the Mediterranean and, in some cases -- according to the U.S. -- evade Saudi defenses. It has troops or loyal militias able to fire missiles from Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. . .

"Iran's missile arsenal is now a cornerstone of its defense strategy. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, responsible for defending Iran from foreign enemies, operates most of the arsenal.

"Some weapons experts say the Saudi oil strike looks like the work of one of Iran's most advanced missiles, the Soumar. The cruise missile, unveiled by Iran in 2015, has the longest reach in Iran's arsenal, with a presumed range of 1,200 miles, or 1,800 miles if Iran's claims are true."

There are numerous U.S. bases within range of the ayatollah's missiles, which the regime has repeatedly threatened. That's why the U.S. recently tested its ability to assume remote control of a major airbase in Qatar.

It is clear from its recent actions and continued development of advanced weapons systems, that the Islamic Republic of Iran will remain a significant threat to U.S. interests and an existential threat to the state of Israel.