Baku, Azerbaijan, July 15
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran's defense system will be able to meet requirements to encounter probable threats even if sanctions against the country are continued, said Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan.
"The national defense industries have been established based of the principles of self-sufficiency and self-confidence. So, as much as the sanctions or restrictions are continued, our defense system will be able to meet requirements to encounter probable threats," Iran's Fars news agency quoted Dehqan as saying July 15.
"Uncertainly, the defense power and strength of the armed forces and the resistance of the brave Iranian nation, as well as research and development abilities of defense industries, which is a fruit of domestic knowledge and expertise, will deprive the enemy of doing any heinous activity."
A final agreement was reached on Iran's disputed nuclear program in the Austrian city of Vienna on July 14 after some 22 months of talks between Iran and the P5+1 (five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany).
However, a UN weapons embargo is to remain in place for five years and a ban on buying missile technology will remain for eight years.
Iranian media outlets report that Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems in recent years. Tehran established an arms development program during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s to counter the weapons embargo imposed on it by the U.S. and its Western allies.
Since 1992, Iran has manufactured its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles, radars, boats, submarines and fighter planes. Iran also unveiled its first domestically manufactured long-range Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in 2010.
Edited by CN