Iran Gaining Great Defense Achievements under Sanctions

(FNA)- Senior Presidential Advisor Akbar Torkan hailed the Iranian engineers and experts for their great achievements in the defense industry despite the US-led western sanctions.

"We have gained many achievements in the defense industry under the sanctions during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and after that," Torkan said, addressing the National Engineering Day Conference in Tehran on Monday.

He pointed to the western sanctions imposed against Iran, and said, "Those who had imposed sanctions on Iran thought that we cannot utilize the state-of-the-art fighter jets as well as radar and missile systems, but we managed to achieve great achievements in the defense field."

Tehran launched an arms development program during the 1980-88 Iraqi imposed war on Iran to compensate for a US weapons embargo. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and fighter planes.

Yet, Iranian officials have always stressed that the country's military and arms programs serve defensive purposes and should not be perceived as a threat to any other country.

In late November, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei called on the Iranian Armed Forces to reinvigorate their power and increase preparedness to defend the country against any possible enemy attack.

"Our Armed Forces should always increase their preparedness without considering political calculations and make strategic plans by identifying their weak points as well as assessment of  enemy's possibilities and weak points," Ayatollah Khamenei said in a meeting with Iran's Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari and other Navy commanders and officials in Tehran.

He lauded the Iranian Navy's power and capabilities, and said, "The Navy should continue its great and important role in safeguarding national security, overall defense and the country's strong fence by updating and increasing preparedness and military capabilities and strengthening their belief, motivations and spirit of devotion."

Elsewhere, Ayatollah Khamenei referred to the country's long water borders with other countries and the enemies' extensive investment in those regions, and underlined the necessity for the further development of Makran coastline in Southeastern Iran.