On Tuesday, the top US general in the Middle East said Iran remains the biggest threat to the region and that it has 3,000 ballistic missiles, some of which could reach the Israeli Mediterranean city of Tel Aviv.
Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. Kenneth McKenzie outlined the biggest problems in the region and said only a handful of fighters had responded to Russia’s call for the Syrians to fight in Ukraine.
But he said that Iran poses the greatest daily threat to regional security and will become far more dangerous if it can acquire nuclear weapons.
“I am concerned, first of all, that they do not have these nuclear weapons, but I am also very concerned about the significant increase in the number and effectiveness of their ballistic missiles, their [unmanned aerial vehicle] program, their long-range drones and their cruise missile program to attack ground targets,” he said.
“It’s all about me.”
Negotiations to bring Iran and the US back to the nuclear deal stalled in Vienna.
Critics of a possible deal fear that it would lift sanctions without addressing Tehran’s growing missile capability.
“They have over 3,000 ballistic missiles of various types, some of which can reach Tel Aviv – to give you an idea of the range,” McKenzie said.
“None of them can reach Europe yet, but over the past five to seven years they have invested heavily in their ballistic missile program.
“Their missiles have longer—much longer—range and vastly improved accuracy.”
General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of Centcom, said Iran now has 3,000 ballistic missiles that could reach Tel Aviv on Israel’s Mediterranean coast.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unveiled a new Khaibar Buster missile with a range of about 900 miles last month.
Iran’s arsenal was on display over the weekend when rockets hit a US army base and a Kurdish news channel office in Erbil, northern Iraq, in response to an Israeli attack.
The danger of the Iranian arsenal came to full effect over the weekend when its missiles rained down on a US army base and the office of a Kurdish news channel in Erbil, northern Iraq.
Iran later claimed responsibility, saying it orchestrated the attack in retaliation for an Israeli strike in Syria that killed two members of its Revolutionary Guard last week.
No one was hurt in the attack on Erbil.
Last month, Iran unveiled the latest weapons in its arsenal.
Khaibar-buster, a reference to a Jewish castle captured by Muslim warriors led by the Prophet Muhammad in the early days of Islam, has a range of 900 miles and is powered by solid fuel, according to state media.
Mackenzie appeared before the committee for the last time before retiring on Tuesday.
His final year was marked by a tumultuous US withdrawal from Afghanistan, leading US and NATO forces in the country. He is also responsible for a botched drone strike on innocent civilians that killed seven children and three adults in Kabul.
In the last days of his work, world attention was focused on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
And he was asked how he views Moscow’s call for the Syrians to join the war after the Kremlin said it was recruiting 16,000 fighters from the Middle East.
“We think that there may be small, small, very small groups of people from Syria who may be trying to get into Ukraine, but I have nothing more than that, and I can talk a little more about it in a closed meeting. “, he said, referring to the closed hearing that followed the public one.
“Now it’s a very small trickle.”
He also said during the hearing that he thought the US would provide Egypt with F-15 jets amid a longstanding human rights dispute.
“I think we have good news: we are going to give them F-15s, which has been a long and difficult process,” McKenzie said.
McKenzie also said he believes the US will provide Egypt with F-15 jets amid a longstanding human rights dispute.
He did not provide any further details, such as timing or the number of aircraft to be sold.
The State Department has not publicly announced the sale of the fighter jets to Egypt, and the proposal is due to go to Congress, where some lawmakers are expected to try to block any sale.
In January, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced that he was withholding about $130 million in military aid on human rights grounds.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former army chief, has been criticized for cracking down on dissent since coming to power after leading the ouster of President-elect Mohamed Morsi of the now banned Islamist Muslim Brotherhood party in 2013.
US officials have said US relations with Egypt are complicated.
The most populous Arab country is a vital ally and key voice in the Arab world. US military officials have long emphasized Egypt’s role in speeding up the passage of US warships through the Suez Canal and allowing US warplanes to fly over.