Iran: We Have Our Own New Missile Defense Production

Iran has unveiled its new domestically developed and manufactured air defense system. Earlier, Iranian officials called the Bavar-373 the first such system in the country.

Tehran started making Bavar, which means "I believe" after the purchase of the Russian C-300 system was halted in 2010 due to international sanctions.

President Hassan Rouhani attended the launch ceremony of the surface-to-air missile system and ordered it to be added to Iran's missile defense network, IRNA reported.

The system is "better than the C-300 and close to the C-400," Rouhani said on television after a ceremony held on Iran's "National Defense Industry Day".

"With this long-range air defense system, we can detect ... targets or planes at more than 300 km (190 miles), lock it at about 250 km, and destroy it at 200 km," Defence Minister Amir Hatami told state television.

Photos posted by his cabinet showed the system mounted on military trucks in Tehran.

In 2016, Iran deployed the C-300 after delaying it for several years. Tehran has taken this step after the unilateral US exit from the so-called nuclear deal.