Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, IRGC says that it has increased the range of its ballistic ground-to-sea missiles to 700 KM, or 435 miles.

General Amirali Hajizadeh, the commander of IRGC’s aerospace forces said October 15 that these ballistic missiles – as distinct from cruise missiles – were developed on the orders of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He explained that hitting targets at sea requires complex technologies that Iran has been able to develop.

Hajizadeh, speaking at a gathering of political commissars of the armed forces, claimed that Iran ranks first in the region in missile power and seventh or eighth in the world.

The IRGC general who has held the aerospace command since 2009, told the gathering that all of Iran’s missiles with the range of 200-2,000 KM are precision weapons.

Hajizadeh also said that for battles in Syria, IRGC has developed shorter range missiles for targets within 23 KM (roughly 15 miles), on the request of its special Qods force commander, Qassem Soleimani. He added that these missiles have been used in Syria in the last two years, according to Tasnim news agency.

The IRGC commander also claimed that a visiting Russian general was surprised at Iran’s audacity to fly drones over U.S. Navy ships. “We told him that Russia should also challenge American warships” since the U.S. would be afraid to respond. “They tried it a few times and as you know, it was all over the media”.

With tensions running high between Iran and the U.S., Iranian officials have often tried to boast of their military capabilities in recent months.