Iran considers the US deployment of a THAAD missile defense battery in Israel as “psychological warfare,” Iran’s Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said on Wednesday, as the region remains tense awaiting an Israeli retaliation against Iran.
The Pentagon said on Tuesday that US troops had arrived in Israel as part of the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. This comes as Israel prepares to hit back against Iran for a ballistic missile attack earlier this month. The battery will boost Israeli defenses against potential Iranian counterstrikes.
“We see this deployment as part of psychological warfare. It does not present a major issue for us,” state news agency IRNA quoted Nasirzadeh as saying.
Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said on Tuesday that an advance team of US personnel and initial components needed for the battery had already arrived in Israel, with the full battery expected to be operational soon.
The deployment “underscores the United States’ commitment to the defense of Israel and to defend Americans in Israel from any ballistic missile attacks by Iran,” Ryder said.
The THAAD system is operated by 95 soldiers and consists of six truck-mounted launchers with eight interceptors each, a radar, and a fire control component, according to the US Congressional Research Service. It is designed to intercept short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
On October 1, Iran launched around 200 missiles at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian commander Abbas Nilforoushan in Beirut last month. Tehran also cited the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July as a factor in the missile barrage.
While Israel has claimed responsibility for the strike that killed Nasrallah and Nilforoushan, it has not officially acknowledged involvement in Haniyeh’s death, though it is widely suspected to be behind it.
Israel has vowed to respond to the October 1 attack, with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant promising a response that would be “deadly, precise, and surprising.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Wednesday that any Israeli attack against his country would be met with a “decisive and regretful” response.
