JAKARTA - The Supreme Commander of the Iranian Armed Forces, Amir Hatami, has hit back at US President Donald Trump's claim that US forces had destroyed the Iranian military.
Hatami said that Iran's air force still has the ability and is ready to provide security, even for state guests. This, he said, was evidenced in the escort of the Pakistani delegation who visited Tehran, Iran on Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
"Yesterday we had a guest. As soon as he entered our country's airspace, we announced that we did not need his plane," Hatami said in a statement via video broadcast by the IRNA news agency, Thursday, April 16.
The arrival of the Pakistani delegation in Tehran was said to be escorted by a number of Iranian F-4 Phantoms fighter jets. The arrival of the delegation was part of Pakistan's efforts as a mediator to arrange the second round of US-Iranian negotiations.
"We escort our guests with twice the number of aircraft, compared to what they [Pakistan] want as an escort," he continued.
Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Army: Mereka mengklaim angkatan udara Iran telah hancur.
"Yesterday we had a guest. As soon as he entered our country's airspace, we announced that we don't need his aircraft. pic.twitter.com/j0JKEZjUCv
— IRNA News Agency ☫ (@IrnaEnglish) April 16, 2026
On the same occasion, Hatami also denied Trump's statement about the destruction of the Iranian Navy as a result of the 40-day war earlier.
"The Iranian Navy stands firm today, and the enemy keeps a distance of 300 kilometers," he said.
While threatening to destroy Iran as it returns to the "stone age", Trump claimed to have eliminated the Islamic Republic's naval and air capabilities.
Trump's claim was a new escalation of the US-Israeli war against Iran in early April 2026, in which the US sought to systematically destroy Iran's military capabilities.
"We are systematically crippling the regime's ability to threaten America or project power beyond their borders," Trump said in his national address on the status of the US-Israeli war against Iran in Operation Epic Fury at the White House on April 1, 2026.
"That means obliterating the Iranian navy, which is now totally destroyed, crippling their air force and missile programs to an unprecedented degree, and obliterating their defense industrial base. We've done all of that; their navy has vanished. Their air force has vanished. Their missiles are almost gone or have been defeated," he continued.
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