Regional states should prevent foreign intervention: Iran Defense minister

Regional countries should prevent the influence of dominant powers in their internal affairs, Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters on the sideline of a Defense Ministry Quran Festival, he noted that presence of outside powers in the region is both a destabilizing factor and against the sovereignty of the regional states.

“The deployment of Patriot surface-to-air missiles along Turkey border with Syria is not in the interest of regional countries.”

On December 4, NATO offered Turkey to deploy Patriot surface-to-air missiles along Turkish border with Syria. People in Turkey have taken to the streets several times to hold massive rallies to express anger at the NATO deployment.

Iranian defense minister underlined that Iranian army is completely prepared for defending its territorial integrity and added that new achievements of Iran’s defense industry in field of airspace, new versions of Iranian made jet fighters and missile systems will be unveiled in the near future.

The Iranian Armed Forces had displayed the country’s latest home-made military hardware, weapons and equipment in large military parades in Tehran on September 21 which commemorates Iranians’ sacrifices during the eight-year Iraqi imposed war on Iran in 1980s.

During the parades, the Iranian armed forces displayed different weapons, military hardware and equipment, including different kinds of fighters, choppers, drones, ground-to-ground missiles, air-to-ground missiles, surface-to-surface missiles, tactical and armed vehicles, surface and underwater vessels, electronic and telecommunications equipment, light and mid-light weapons, different kinds of artillery and mortar-launchers, air defense systems and engineering and logistic equipment.