Iran’s new defense minister, Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi, warned that another attack by the United States would draw a “surprising and extensive” Iranian response. He also threatened American troops if Washington uses its “mother of all bombs” against Iran. Iran’s parliament confirmed his appointment on Sunday by a vote of 237 to 15.
He succeeds Aziz Nasirzadeh, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes in February. Revolutionary Guards general Majid Ebn al-Reza had served as acting defense minister since then.
“If the American enemy makes another miscalculation, the response of the valiant Iranian people and the fighters of Islam will be surprising and extensive,” Akhlaghi told lawmakers.
He also addressed the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, known as the “mother of all bombs,” one of the largest non-nuclear weapons in the US arsenal. CNN reported this week that American strike plans could include using it against Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites, including Pickaxe Mountain, if President Donald Trump orders renewed combat operations. Some officials quoted in the report doubted the bomb would be effective against Iran’s deeply buried facilities.
Akhlaghi said Iran had taken the necessary measures to counter such an attack, and claimed these preparations were the reason Washington had so far refrained from using the bomb.
“The US President should focus on ensuring his forces are withdrawn safely from our region. If he drops a single bomb, he will have to see how many of his troops end up being carried out of the region in a horizontal position,” he said.
Akhlaghi, 68, has spent decades in Iran’s defense industry, with senior roles in its missile and aerospace sectors. He previously headed both the Aerospace Industries Organization and the Defense Industries Organization, and worked closely with Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, considered the father of Iran’s ballistic missile program. He is under US and European sanctions over that work.
The threats follow Trump’s own warnings. On Tuesday night last week, Trump told a campaign rally in Wasilla, Alaska, to “wait till you see what we do to Iran,” after saying the previous week that new attacks would wait until after the November 3 midterms. The next day, he told a rally in Arizona that the war with Iran would end “very soon.”
