Iran Boosts Air Defense, Establishes New Sites in Strategic Areas
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A high-ranking Iranian commander announced that the Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base has established multiple sites in the country’s sensitive zones to reinforce the Islamic Republic’s air defense capabilities.
Commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili said on Saturday that his forces have managed to add a multitude of new sites to the country’s integrated air defense network in the previous Iranian year (ended on March 20, 2014).
He said the new sites, brought into service in the “sensitive and strategic regions” of Iran, were founded on the Supreme Leader’s direct orders and his surveillance.
According to Iran’s Constitution, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei is also command-in-chief of the Armed Forces in the Islamic Republic, and entitled to issue the whole military orders.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Brigadier General Esmaili unveiled plans for an unprecedented air defense wargame in the current Iranian year, saying the planned drill will be different from the whole previous ones.
Earlier in October, Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base, together with different units from the Iranian armed forces, conducted massive aerial drills code-named Defenders of Velayat Skies 5.
Brigadier General Esmaili said at the time that the drills covered an area of 700 thousand square kilometers and were attended by forces from the base and different units from the Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
These exercises were held on October 9-13 in the northwestern, central, eastern, and southwestern parts of the country in which 12,000 forces of both the Army and the IRGC had taken part.
