Iran and China are two countries that top President Trump's enemy list and they are responding to the United State president's tough talk by carrying out elaborate and provocative military drills.On Friday, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on 25 Iranian individuals and entities supporting the Revolutionary Guards’ ballistic missile program.
This sanction was triggered by an Iranian ballistic missile test that the US said violated a UN Security council resolution which prohibits the launch of missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. In the case of China, Trump criticized them for devaluing its currency to hurt U.S. imports and building "a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea." This attack on China came after China complained about the recent relations between Trump and Taiwan which China considers threatening.
In response to Trump's sanctions and talks, both countries seem to be tightening their defense and security in case they need to defend themselves. Iran conducted military exercises and rolled out new weapons that its leaders said would help national defense, and China tested a new missile following Trump's Twitter assault on Beijing’s expansion in the South China Sea.
Iran's newest weapons; a guided missile, a grenade launcher, a rifle and a pistol, were displayed by Iran's defense minister, Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehqan, and he warned Washington that Iran will act against any hostile action from the United States.
"If the enemy makes a mistake our roaring missiles will hit their targets," Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force, said during massive air defense drills.
Iran also warned that if attacked by Washington, its missiles would target the U.S. 5th Fleet based in Bahrain, American installations in the Indian Ocean and the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.
"These points are all within the range of Iran's missile systems, and they will be razed to the ground if the enemy makes a mistake. And only seven minutes is needed for the Iranian missile to hit Tel Aviv." Mojtaba Zonour, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission said.
On their part, China tested a multi-warhead, nuclear-capable missile that has a 600-mile range and can reach targets in Taiwan, Korea and Japan, as well as moving ships at sea. The missile is launched from a mobile pad which makes it hard to find and destroy before launch. The missile’s warhead can adjust its path to strike slow-moving targets and evade anti-missile defenses such as the U.S. Patriot system deployed by Taiwan.
China’s state-controlled media said the U.S. would need to “wage war” to stop China’s access to a series of artificial islands it has built in the South China Sea. The fortified islands are in oil-rich waters that are home to busy shipping lanes and are also claimed by the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and Brunei.
