Iran plans to enhance its defense capacity — defense minister

MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/. Iran’s key goal is to enhance its defense capacity, which will promote stability in the region, Iranian Defense Minister Hosein Dehqan said on Tuesday.

"The most important task is to strengthen our security both in terms of quality and in terms of quantity so that we could ensure protection from possible attacks by our enemies," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel. "Our defense policy and our defense doctrine exclude any possible aggression against other countries."

"We think that our enhanced defense capacity will promote stability in the region," he said when asked about prospects for military technical cooperation between Iran and Russia and possible purchases of Russia-made weapons.

The minister also stressed that Iran has never developed nuclear weapons and does not plan to do it in future.

"We have never manufactured nuclear warheads, we have never developed missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. All of our ballistic missiles are purely defensive. We have always told the international community that we take no steps towards [nuclear] weapons," he said.

Earlier, a source in Russia’s defense sector told TASS that the Iranian military are interested in the Russian-made S-400 Triumph (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, Sukhoi Su-30SM (Flanker-C) multirole fighter and other military hardware. Apart from that, Iran is interested in buying the Bastion (SSC-5 Stooge) coastal defense missile system, Yakovlev Yak-130 (Mitten) combat trainer, Mi-8/17 (Hip) helicopters, frigates and diesel-electric submarines.