Salami: These exercises were designed to respond to threats made in recent days by the Zionist regime.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Major General Hossein Salami, stressed, on the sidelines of the ground stage of the Great Prophet 17 joint maneuvers, on its last day, that the ground force of the Revolutionary Guards is a "reassuring guarantee of independence, territorial integrity and national security for the country."

Salami warned that the only difference between military operations and training is only a change in angles.

"These exercises were designed to respond to threats made in recent days by the Zionist regime," Iran's armed forces chief of staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri told state television.

"Sixteen missiles aimed and annihilated the chosen target. In this exercise, part of the hundreds of Iranian missiles capable of destroying a country that dared to attack Iran were deployed," he added.

The military drills began Monday in Bushehr, Hormozgan, and Khuzestan provinces, each of which touch the Gulf.

"The military exercise... is a serious warning to Zionist regime officials," said Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Major General Hossein Salami. "Make the slightest mistake, we will cut off their hand."

The drills come after US national security adviser Jake Sullivan met Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, amid "Israel's" opposition to efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Bennett has accused Iran of "nuclear blackmail" and charged that revenue it gained from sanctions relief would be used to acquire weapons to harm Israelis.

Iran says it only wants to develop a civil nuclear program, but Western powers say its stocks of enriched uranium could be used to develop a nuclear weapon.