Fars News: "US Warships . . . Easy Targets for Iranian Navy"

A mainstay of the Iranian Press is the they-wouldn't-dare-attack-us-we're-really-powerful story. In this one we learn that the US Navy is outnumbered 100 to 1:

A senior Iranian military figure underlined the Iranian Navy's preparedness to repel possible attacks on the country, saying that each hostile US warship would be swarmed by over 100 Iranian military vessels in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman if war breaks out between the two arch foes.

"We have seen over 100 combat vessels for each (US) warship" for the time of war or whenever necessary, Former Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Naval Forces Rear Admiral Morteza Saffari told the Persian-language Panjareh (Window) Weekly. [...]

Also at Fars, we learn the great news that "Iran Able to Mass-Produce Ballistic Missiles":

A senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced on Sunday that Iran is now capable of mass-producing its home-made ballistic missiles.

"We have reached a never-ending point in (increasing) the quantity of ballistic missiles," IRGC Lieutenant Commander General Hossein Salami said, noting that Iran has made great progresses in this area based on its home-grown capabilities and capacities.

All these stories involve the IRGC, which is also prepared to counter ideological and cultural threats:

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari warned the Iranian youths against enemies' soft war plots, and called for further preparedness to confront soft threats against Iran and the Islamic Revolution. [...]

Last year, Jafari had stated that the IRGC was preparing infrastructures for confronting military, hard and soft threats, adding that the IRGC had entrusted the duty for confrontation against soft threats to the Basij forces.

Jafari said that fighting enemies' soft threats is the most important task of the Basij forces.

"Today, the most important and main mission of Basij is confronting the soft threats and cultural invasion which is stealthily targeting the (Iranian) youth," Jafari said.

Wikipedia explains:

From its origin as an ideologically driven militia, the IRGC has taken an ever more assertive role in virtually every aspect of Iranian society. Its part in suppressing dissent has led many analysts to describe the events surrounding the 12 June 2009 presidential election as a military coup, and the IRGC as an authoritarian military security government for which its Shiite clerical system is no more than a facade

So we can easily imagine the pride and pleasure felt by the average Iranian in reading stories like the above and being reminded that the folks who make their country a police-state are on the job!

Crossposted on Soccer Dad