Iran unveiled two new air defense systems on Saturday, state media reported, with tensions high in the Middle East amid the war in Gaza.
“The Arman anti-ballistic missile system and the Azarakhsh low-altitude air defense system, built by the ministry of defense, were unveiled this morning,” the official IRNA news agency said.
The unveiling of the new weapons comes at a time of heightened regional tensions with the war between Israel and Tehran-backed Hamas raging into a fifth month.
Even before the war, Israel and Iran were implacable foes, with Israel fiercely opposed to Tehran’s nuclear programme.
In 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for Iran to face a “credible military threat” to prevent it attaining nuclear weapons.
Tehran has always insisted its nuclear programme is peaceful and denies seeking a nuclear bomb.
The Arman missile system revealed on Saturday “has a medium range and a high altitude that can identify targets at 180 kilometres and engage and destroy them at 120 kilometres,” Defence Minister Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani said during the unveiling ceremony, IRNA reported.
The agency said the system could take on “six targets simultaneously” while the Azarakhsh defense system can be mounted on multiple vehicle types and “uses radar, electro-optical system and thermal seekers to detect and track its target.”
