Iran says it will prioritize its missile program

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Iran will unveil a new fighter jet next week and continue developing missile capabilities as a top priority, the defense minister said on Saturday, defying new US sanctions aimed at curbing Tehran's missile program and regional influence.

Meanwhile, Iran's navy and ground forces announced they have upgraded their combating power.

The navy said on Saturday that it has mounted a locally built advanced defensive weapons system on one of its warships for the first time, as tensions mount with the US military in the Gulf.

Helicopters fly over the sky during a military parade held to mark the National Army Day in front of the Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran, Iran on April 18, 2018. /VCG

Navy Commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi said on Saturday that "coastal and sea testing of the short range defense Kamand system were concluded successfully, and he said this system was mounted ... on a warship and will be mounted on a second ship soon," the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

The country's ground force also said it has enhanced the range of helicopter-mounted weapons to 12 kilometers.

President Donald Trump withdrew the United States in May from a 2015 accord between Iran and world powers that curbed Tehran’s nuclear activity in exchange for sanctions relief.

Trump said the deal was deeply flawed as it had not curbed Iran’s ballistic missile program or reined in its influence in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Iran has dismissed any direct talks with Washington to resolve the issues raised by Trump.

"Our top priority has been development of our missile program. We are in a good position in this field, but we need to develop it," Brigadier General Amir Hatami was quoted as saying by Iran's Fars news agency on Saturday.

File photo of Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami. /IRNA Photo

"We will present a plane on National Defense Industry Day, and people will see it fly, and the equipment designed for it,” Hatami added. Iran celebrates National Defense Industry Day on August 22.

Iran’s functional air force has been limited to perhaps as few as a few dozen strike aircraft.

In 2013, Iran unveiled what it said was a new, domestically built fighter jet, called Qaher 313.

(Top image: An Iranian military truck carries parts of a S-300 air defence missile system during a parade on the occasion of the country's annual army day on April 18, 2018, in Tehran. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Reuters ,Xinhua News Agency