Iran is going to mass produce a new generation of domestically built air-to-air heat-seeking missiles which can track targets via their infrared emission.
Air Force commander Brigadier General Hassan Shah-Safi told IRNA on Saturday that having been successfully test-fired in different situations, the heat-seeking missiles are now going to be mass produced at the Defense Ministry.
This missile is fired towards the target by a plane and can track the object until it hits it, Shah-Safi said. It has a range of up to 100 kilometers, he added.
According to the top commander, the missile has been tested with a range of more than 40 kilometers, but its range could be modified to increase at higher altitudes.
Shah-Safi said Iran has also produced different kinds of air-to-air missiles, adding that radar-evading planes are being sample produced on a small scale as well.
To advance its defensive capabilities against any possible attack, Iran has so far launched different kinds of missiles.
In June, Iran inaugurated the production line of a domestically-made, supersonic ground-to-air missile system called 'Shahin'.
The system, which has a range of more than 40 kilometers, is capable of targeting fighter jets and helicopters.
Earlier in May, Iran also successfully tested its new solid-fuel Sejjil 2 missile, which is designed to be more accurate and swift than previous Iranian-made models. It has a major deterrence power.
[Iran Press TV Latest] As US President Barack Obama plans to pay his first official visit to Beijing, China signals its opposition to new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
The Chinese government believes that negotiation sides should make efforts to settle issues regarding Iran's nuclear case through "political and diplomatic" talks, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told IRNA on Saturday.
He added that a diplomatic and permanent solution to Iran's nuclear issue will help bring about peace and stability to the Middle East.
As a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran has the right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, said the spokesman.
Qin's remarks came one day ahead of a scheduled visit by President Obama to China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Obama is expected to discuss Iran's nuclear case with his Chinese counterpart.
Major world powers, spearheaded by the US and Israel, accuse Iran of efforts to develop a nuclear bomb and based on such allegations have threatened to impose more sanctions against the country.
This is while Obama, in a Thursday letter to the Congress, renewed US sanctions against Iran for another year.
Tehran, however, has denied seeking nuclear weapons and called for the removal of all weapons of mass destruction (WMD) from across the globe, including those held in the US.
Although the accusations have never been proven by any of the powers or the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) -- which has been monitoring the Iranian program extensively and inspecting its facilities since 2003 -- the United Nations Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions resolutions against Tehran.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11136 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Is China hoping that Iran becomes a thorn in Russia's side?
#2
No, this is just a preliminary "fuck you" from the Chinese. Obama will have to bow and scrape to get them to change their minds, and I'm sure he will be delighted to do exactly that.
[Al Arabiya Latest] An Iranian court on Saturday sentenced a student who took part in protests following Iran's disputed election to eight years in prison as opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi condemened a government decision to put his brother-in-law, Shahpour Kazemi, on trial.
The June 12 vote triggered big street demonstrations by opposition supporters accusing the authorities of rigging the result, which gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term in charge.
The wife of the detainee, Abdullah Momeni, told website Mowjcamp, which backs defeated candidate Mousavi, that Momeni was sentenced to six years for taking part in post-election protests and two years for previous activities concerning national security.
Several other post-election detainees have received jail terms and three people have been sentenced to death, according to Iranian media.
Last week a court sentenced a man to seven years in jail and 74 lashes for post-election activities, Mowjcamp reported.
Meanwhile several newspapers quoted Tehran's prosecutor, who did not elaborate on the decision, that Mousavi's brother-in-law would stand trial.
Mousavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard, said on July 23 that her brother was among hundreds rounded up by authorities during the unrest .
She also warned Iranian authorities not to publish any "forced confessions" from her brother.
The intelligence chiefs of the United States, Israel, Egypt and Jordan have held an unprecedented secret meeting to discuss Iran's nuclear program.
The conclave of intelligence chiefs was held in Amman in the first week of November, reported DEBKA an Israeli web site which has close links to the Israeli intelligence service Mossad.
The chief of Jordan's General Intelligence Service, Gen. Muhammad Raqed hosted the meeting, which was attended by senior officials of the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Defense Intelligence Agency, Israel's Mossad chief, Meir Dagan and military intelligence head Brig. Amos Yadlin along with Egypt's intelligence minister, Gen. Omar Suleiman.
The report comes as Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told Sky News on November 7 that Tel Aviv's persistent threats to attack Iran are not just a bluff.
Israel and its staunchest ally, the US, continue to insist that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon program, while lacking any evidence to prove their claim.
The reports by International Atomic Energy Agency issued so far -- and even reports released by the United States' main intelligence agencies -- all point to the contrary.
Tehran, an Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)-signatory, has called for the removal of all weapons of mass destruction across the globe.
Israel, which has so far refused to sign the NPT, is believed to be the sole possessor of nuclear arms in the Middle East with over 200 ready-to-launch warheads in its stockpile.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11135 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
If the Israelis are smart, they won't tell the
Americans a damn thing lest Bambi's "diplomats" pass the info on the Iran. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/15/2009 0:07 Comments ||
Top||
#2
a meeting so secret that everybody knows about it. i am sure the DOS debriefing notes have been fully distributed to all interested parties... for future consideration when the one comes to bow and grovel on his next 'surrender tour'
Posted by: abu do you love ||
11/15/2009 1:19 Comments ||
Top||
Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani has raised the alarm over Western efforts to project a wrong image of Islam as a religion supporting terrorism.
Larijani, who was speaking to a group of Sunni clerics on Friday, said that the US was seeking to 'propagate' a distorted image of Islam in the Middle East.
"Over the past few years, the US and a number of its allies in the Middle East have been seeking to propagate a fake [interpretation] of Islam and to tarnish its image by linking it with terrorist moves."
"All Islamic sects should make every effort not to fall into US-Zionist trap," Larijani said, adding that any division among different Islamic sects has been brought to the region by the intelligence services of foreign forces who seek to gain a foothold in the region.
Larijani's plea for unity among Muslims comes as on Wednesday the al-Qaeda leader in Saudi Arabia urged Sunnis to confront Shias.
In an audio recording posted on the internet, Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman al-Rashid, accused Shias and Iran of trying 'to take over Muslim countries' and 'to annihilate Sunnis'.
The al-Qaeda leader said "their(Shias) threat to Islam and its people is much bigger than that from Jews and Christians.
He also accused Yemeni Shias of rising against Sunnis. "Do you not see and hear the Huthis' aspirations in Yemen and their incursion against Sunnis?"
The Yemeni military launched a major offensive - dubbed Operation Scorched Earth - against Houthi Shias on August 11 in northern Yemen.
The government accuses the fighters, who are named after their leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi, of seeking to restore the imamate system, which was overthrown in a 1962 coup.
The Houthis argue, however, that they are defending their people's rights against government marginalization- a policy which they believe has been adopted under pressure from Saudi-backed Wahhabi extremists.
During the past fortnight, Saudi Arabia has managed to aggravate the problem even further by launching air raids in northern Yemen, based on a claim that Houthi fighters have killed two of its soldiers.
While Riyadh insists that it is targeting Houthi positions on 'Saudi territory', the Shia resistance fighters say Yemeni villages are being targeted with deadly phosphorous bombs, which cause massive injuries among the Shia civilian population.
[Iran Press TV Latest] With the delivery of an advanced air defense system to Iran long overdue by Russia, Tehran says it is capable of mass-producing replicas of the controversial Russian-made missile in the near future.
Speaking to Mehr News Agency on Saturday, Head of Iran's Foreign Policy and National Security Commission in Parliament Alaeddin Boroujerdi said Tehran and Russia have a long history of military cooperation and it is crucial that Russia honors its commitments with respect to Iran.
"The Russians should meet their commitment on the delivery of the missile system, which will only be used to defend the country's territory," said the Iranian lawmaker.
He was referring to the Russian-made S-300 surface-to-air missile system, which can track targets and fire at aircraft 120 km (75 miles) away, features high jamming immunity and is able to simultaneously engage up to 100 targets.
Boroujerdi went on to warn Russia that "Iran is not a country which would stop short of action in dealing with countries who fail to deliver on their promises."
He said that while the Islamic Republic will be able to mass produce the system in the near future, Russia's commitment to the deal could lay the ground for future cooperation.
The remarks come as Russia and Iran clinched a deal on the sale of S-300 system in December 2007. Unofficial reports claim that the Russian-Iranian contract on the sale of the S-300 missiles is worth $800 million.
The delay on the delivery of the system comes as earlier in September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a secret trip to Moscow during which he is believed to have discussed with Russian leaders measures to hold off on providing the ultramodern anti-aircraft missiles to Iran.
After the media spilled the beans on the controversial visit, Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, refused to deny the reports about the Israeli official's secret trip.
"I am only going to say: to verify the rumor you should go to the source of the rumor," he said. "Our co-operation with Iran is quite legitimate. We are not selling offensive weapons to Iran."
Lavrov described the S-300 system as purely defensive, adding, "As far as the trade of military elements goes, Russia has not violated [its] international obligations."
Despite the remarks by the Russian foreign minister, Russia has yet to deliver the system to Iran and military officials in Moscow are yet to give an explanation about the delay.
Meanwhile, as rumors began to circulate that Moscow had scrapped the deal, deputy director for Russia's federal service for military-technical cooperation Konstantin Biryulin said on Thursday that the matter was still under consideration despite mounting Western pressure over military dealings with Iran.
"The issue of S-300 deliveries is still under discussion," he was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.
Reacting to the delay, a top Iranian military official urged Russia on Friday to honor its military contract with the Tehran government and deliver the promised S-300 surface-to-air missiles.
Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, said that Moscow was now six months late in delivering the S-300 missiles to Tehran.
"Don't the Russian [political and military] strategists consider the geopolitical significance of Iran in ensuring Russia's security," asked Firouzabadi.
Iran says it has opted to acquire the sophisticated S-300 defense system -- which, according to Western experts, would rule out the possibility of an Israeli airstrike on Iranian nuclear sites -- to protect the country in case of any such attack.
Israel has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, including the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz or the country's first atomic power plant, which has been under construction by Russian workers in Bushehr for years, arguing that the country's nuclear activities are an existential threat to Tel Aviv's security.
This is while Tehran says its nuclear program is aimed at the civilian applications of the technology and has called for the removal of weapons of mass destruction from across the globe.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11146 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Just wondering ... why so many articles from the Iranian press here? If I want to read Iran's propaganda, I am able to go to their site. I don't mind an occasional article where it makes sense, but dang, this site is plastered with Iranian propaganda lately.
#2
Perhaps you could contribute some news from other sources, cross?
Or you could just continue complaining about the free ice cream....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/15/2009 0:08 Comments ||
Top||
#3
why so many articles from the Iranian press here?
Since the Iranian press is just a tool of the Iranian "government", it gives you an insight into what they are thinking and therefore where they are heading.
If this is their level of rhetoric at their present capacity for confrontation, how do you think they will be actually behaving when they think they have the mother of all bombs in their pocket?
#5
I have tried to add something using that link at the top of the page but it has never seemed to work for me. Also, it seems to let me add a title and a source but no text. I am probably messing something up. The interface isn't exactly intuitive to me.
#9
"Abdul, commence building the S-300s!!"
"Yes, Your Insanity! First, I will need five hundred thousand Estes 'D' model rocket engines...."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/15/2009 5:45 Comments ||
Top||
#10
I made similar comments a couple of weeks ago but my concern is that some of the domestic coverage was stuff I couldn't find anywhere else. So it was more of a poke in the eye of the propagandists which used to be our media.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iranian health officials say mental disorders particularly depression are the second most prevalent disease in the country.
According to the report recently released by the Iranian State Welfare Organization, after trauma, mental and cardiovascular diseases are the second leading disease in the country, affecting some 21.3 percent of the rural population and 20.9 percent of those living in urban areas.
The report stated that some 101,000 Iranians suffer from chronic mental disorders, 67 percent of whom are male. Depression is also reported to be responsible for the highest number of years of life lost for disease in the country.
Officials, however, stress that the number of affected individuals are underestimated in the country, adding that the majority of individuals avoid visiting a psychologist due to cultural taboos.
Latest figures released by the WHO revealed that more than 450 million individuals in the world suffer from mental disorders.
Depression, the most prevalent mental disorder, accounts for some 60 percent of the deaths across the globe. While the condition is considered as the world's fourth leading cause of disability, many believe it will move up to rank second in the near future.
#3
Second only to Drug Addiction and Prostitution and Moslem endemic Corruption. Islamic Paradise...if you like a fat mullah climbing over your rump at the local madrassa.
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[Iran Press TV Latest] As US President Barack Obama plans to pay his first official visit to Beijing, China signals its opposition to new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] An Iranian court on Saturday sentenced a student who took part in protests following Iran's disputed election to eight years in prison as opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi condemened a government decision to put his brother-in-law, Shahpour Kazemi, on trial.
