TEHRAN, Sept 30 (AFP) - The chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards shrugged off the danger of Israel waging a long-distance war against the Islamic republic, the official IRNA news agency reported Thursday.
"The Zionist regime is not capable of waging a long-distance war against Iran," said General Yahya Rahim Safavi, head of Iran's ideological army, in apparent reference to Israel's ballistic arsenal.
"We keep watch of the Zionist military movements against Iran and we regard them as incompetent," he said, without elaborating.
But Israel is "not only a threat to the Arab and Islamic region and the Middle East, but for the entire world's security", the Revolutionary Guards commander said.
Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani said last week that the Iranian army had taken delivery of a new "strategic missile" and that the weapon, unnamed for security reasons, was successfully tested.
Iran has deliberately kept mum on whether the missile was the Shahab-3.
Believed to be based on a North Korean design, it is thought to be capable of carrying a one-tonne warhead at least 1,300 kilometres (800 miles), well within range of Israel.
On Wednesday, Israel's Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said Iran must be stopped before it achieves nuclear capability.
Iran insists that its atomic energy programme is purely peaceful, but the United States and Israel, in particular, fear it conceals efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
Israel, believed the be the only nuclear-armed country in the Middle East, now views Iran as its number one enemy after the downfall of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq and has been lobbying hard for greater international pressure to be exerted on Tehran.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards commander said his country had "achieved self-sufficiency in the military industry, especially in medium-range and long-range missiles".
"Today, Iran does not need foreign assistance in the manufacture of surface-to-air and surface-to-sea missiles, or in the aeronautics sector, or the technology for warships, tanks or cannons," he said.
Safavi said the US military presence in the Gulf region was a source of insecurity, "but we do not feel any great threat". Security will only return once foreign troops have withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.