On the eve of President Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York, Tehran was the scene of a massive display of Iranian military might. The occasion was the anniversary of the beginning of Iran’s eight-year war against Iraq. Ahmadinejad and Iranian military leaders presided over the parade:
The Revolutionary Guards were among the units that paraded past the reviewing stand:
A paratrooper parachuted past a banner of the Ayatollah Khomeini:
Lots of troops participated in the parade, but the emphasis was on Iran’s high-tech military capabilities. Iran claims that these Saegheh fighter jets are equivalent to the F-18:
Iran used the occasion of the parade to unveil a new, longer-range missile:
AFP’s caption for the above photo says:
Iran on Saturday warned the West of the “serious consequences” of launching any attack against the Islamic republic after showing off a new longer-range missile in public for the first time.
AFP says the parade included “a string of anti-Israel slogans,” but Little Green Footballs points out that the signs in the photo below actually say “Death to USA” and “Death to Israel.”
Simultaneously with the parade, in another show of hostility to the U.S., the Iranian government feted Che Guevara’s son and daughter. This photo was taken at Amir Kabir University in Tehran. Somehow I don’t think we’ll be seeing their faces on left-wingers’ tee-shirts:
Reviewing the parade must have been about the last thing Ahmadinejad did before departing for New York. I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s coming to the U.S. from a position of considerable strength.
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