TEHRAN, October 20 (RIA Novosti) - Iran has the capability to fire 11,000 rockets at enemy bases within one minute if the country is attacked, a top commander in the Revolutionary Guards Corps said on Saturday.
"Within the first minute of any attack by enemies against our country, the missile and artillery unit of the ground force is capable of firing 11,000 missiles and shells at targets that are known to us," Gen. Mahmoud Chaharbaghi, the top missile commander of the Revolutionary Guards, said on national TV.
Iran has precise data on the deployment of potential attackers' military bases in the region, he said.
"A possible war will not last long, because within days we will reduce our enemies to ashes. The enemy must ask himself what losses he is prepared to suffer for his stupidity," the commander said.
The commander's comments come four days after United States President George W. Bush's warning that if Iran's nuclear program is not stopped, World War III could break out. The United States has military bases in several countries near Iran, including thousands of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, which share borders with the Islamic Republic.
In response to Bush's comments, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said on Thursday: "Statements of this kind reflect America's expansionist goals, which will surely weaken international security and ignite the U.S. government's militarist policy."
Washington, which along with many other Western nations accuses Iran of pursing a secret nuclear weapons program, despite Iranian denials, has refused to rule out military action against the country in the long-running international dispute.
Bush's comments at a White House news conference came a day after President Vladimir Putin's visit to Tehran, where the Russian leader said he saw no evidence that Iran was developing nuclear weapons.
Putin's trip to Iran for a summit of Caspian littoral states, the first visit by a Russian or Soviet leader since Joseph Stalin traveled to Iran in 1943, provoked concerns in the West over increasingly close ties between Moscow and Tehran. The summit resulted in a five-way agreement that no Caspian nations would allow the use of their territories for a military strike against any of them.
George W.Bush and Vladimir PutinUnited States President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin have been in a war of words this week, with Bush suggesting that the Iranian nuclear program could be the lynchpin for launching  World War III.

"So I’ve told people that, if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon" and "we got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel. My intent is to continue to rally the world, to send a focused signal to the Iranian government that we will continue to work to isolate you in the hopes that at some point somebody else shows up and says it’s not worth the isolation," said Bush during a press conference.

The Tehran Times responded to Bush reporting that "either Bush has gone totally mad and now makes statements without consulting his advisors, or the neo-conservatives are dreaming of a new world order and no longer feel compelled to hide their goal and U.S. officials should put a muzzle on Bush to prevent him from giving people the impression that the United States is the main threat to world peace."

Putin in a telephone question and answer session advises that Russia is developing a "big, grandiose" plan to boost the country's defenses with new types of nuclear weapons to defeat the U.S. anti-missile system based in Europe.

"Our plans are not simply considerable, but huge. At the same time they are absolutely realistic. I have no doubts we will accomplish them. I can assure you that such steps are being prepared and we will take them," stated Putin.

Analysts said Mr Putin's latest remarks were designed to reassure his public that Russia still had an effective nuclear deterrent. But they were also a message to Washington: that its new and costly missile shield was effectively useless against the latest Russian technology.

Putin even suggested that the U.S. might be after Siberia’s resources and the U.S. has considered invading Russia. One thing Putin was certain of is that there are quite a few politicians in the United States who engage in what he described as "political erotica," something that "may or may not give pleasure to people, but is unlikely to generate any results," Putin added.