Iran Used Less Than 5% of Its Defense Power Against Israel, Says IRGC Commander

According to Saed News, Iran’s recent retaliatory strikes against Israel, launched in response to the latter’s unprovoked offensive earlier this month, represented only a fraction of Tehran’s overall military capacity, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Saturday.

Speaking in a televised interview, Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Naghdi, the IRGC’s deputy commander for coordination, asserted that “less than five percent of our country’s defensive capacity was actually activated,” emphasizing that this figure referred merely to units being engaged—not depleted.

“Our principal capabilities remain untouched and have not entered the fray at all,” Naghdi remarked, warning that Iran's full military force has not yet been deployed. “The full magnitude of our forces has yet to reveal itself; it has not even come onto the stage.”

The remarks follow Tehran’s launch of a wave of ballistic and hypersonic missile attacks on June 13, targeting Israeli military and industrial infrastructure across the occupied Palestinian territories. The strikes came in response to Israeli aggression, which Iran described as unprovoked.

Footage widely shared on social media revealed significant damage to Israeli military sites, including airbases used in the initial attack on Iran. Despite extensive support from the United States—including the reported deployment of two of its global THAAD missile defense platforms—analysts estimated the cost of American assistance at over $800 million.

While the reprisal strikes were largely missile-based, Naghdi stressed that Iran’s true military strength lies in its ground forces. “We are well-equipped to fight. Perhaps we could keep attacking the enemy like this for several years,” he said, suggesting the confrontation may not be over.