Iran unveiled its new home-grown air defence system on Thursday at a time of increased tensions with the United States.
Iranian officials have previously called Bavar-373 the Islamic republic’s first domestically produced long-range missile defence system.
Tehran began making Bavar – which means “believe” – after the purchase of Russia’s S-300 system was suspended in 2010 due to international sanctions.
President Hassan Rouhani attended the unveiling ceremony for the mobile surface-to-air system and ordered it to be added to Iran’s missile defence network, state news agency Irna reported.
“The long-range Bavar-373 missile system is suited to Iran’s geography with a range of more than 200km ... and competes with Russian and American systems such as S-300 and Patriot,” Irna said.
The system is “better than S-300 and close to S-400”, Rouhani said held on Iran’s “national defence industry day.”
Pictures released by his office showed the system mounted on the back of military trucks in Tehran.
Iran installed the S-300 system in March 2016 following several years of delays, after a nuclear agreement reached with world powers the previous year allowed the lifting of international sanctions.
Thursday’s unveiling takes place against a backdrop of rising tensions with Washington since President Donald Trump last year withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions.
Iran shot down a US Global Hawk drone with a surface-to-air missile in June for allegedly violating its airspace, which the United States denies. l
