Tehran: Iran will stage large-scale air defense war games next week to help protect its nuclear facilities against any attack, a senior commander was quoted as saying on Saturday.
Brigadier General Ahmad Mighani also suggested Iran could itself produce an advanced missile defense system which Russia has so far failed to deliver to the Islamic Republic and which Washington and Israel do not want Tehran to have.
Iran believes Russia's delay in supplying high-grade S-300 missiles was due pressure by Israel, not technical problems as cited by Moscow, Mighani said.
"We are hopeful the Russians would ignore the pressure of the Zionist lobby," the semi-official Fars News Agency quoted him as saying. Iran refers to Israel as the "Zionist regime."
The military maneuvers will begin on Sunday and involve both the elite Revolutionary Guards and the regular armed forces against a hypothetical enemy, Iranian media reported.
The United States and Israel have not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the row over Iranian nuclear work that the West suspects is aimed at making bombs.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is solely to generate electricity, has threatened to hit back at Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf if it is attacked.
"This week's air defense maneuvers will be held with the intention of protecting the country's nuclear facilities," Mighani said, Fars reported. He heads the armed forces' air defense headquarters.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, November 21, 2009, 17:43