The real reason for the last Iranian missile test? To test their ability to crush rebellion in a war with the USA

LONDON -- A major Iran exercise said to demonstrate military power was actually designed to gauge internal security, analysts said.

Western intelligence sources said the Great Prophet-3 exercise, from July 11 through 14, focused on the internal security capabilities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The sources said Great Prophet-3 tested a command and control network meant to facilitate rapid response to a rebellion in Iran during any war with the United States.

"The entire missile firing phase of the exercise was designed to demonstrate deterrence," an intelligence source said. "But the real goal of the exercise was to maintain security in times of war."

The exercise envisioned Western air strikes on Iranian cities amid a war with the United States. The sources said IRGC wanted to determine whether the C2 network could survive such a major assault.

"There were bugs in the network, but it worked," the source said. "They demonstrated that they could suppress unrest as well as provide civil defense."

There is no doubt in my mind that there is little point in trying to destroy the nuclear weapons program of Iran unless we go on to a realistic campaign to KILL THE MULLAHS and remove the entire IRGC, Basij, Guardian Council and leadership cadre of Iran. If we are not willing to do this, there is no point in acting. Since we are certainly NOT going on to a land invasion of Iran (I don't favor ANY such thing, btw), this is the only way I can foresee which has a chance to give the Iranian a shot at something better, and remove the chance of a cataclysmic nuclear regional war with far reaching consequences in terms of death, disease and radiation exposure.

The sources said IRGC has completed the deployment of its Basij paramilitary force throughout most of Iran. They said Basij, designed to mobilize up to 12 million personnel, has established an internal security presence in 31 provinces.

Another goal of Great Prophet was to determine whether IRGC could rapidly load and fire a range of missiles. The sources said many of the missiles were aging weapons drawn from underground bunkers in remote areas of Iran.

On July 21, Iran launched another IRGC exercise meant to test the interoperability of internal security and military forces. The month-long exercise, meant to test the restructured IRGC, was taking place in the Ardabil province and was commanded by Col. Jalil Babazadeh. The sources said nearly 100 IRGC and Basij battalions were participating.