Iran has "successfully" test fired an upgraded version of a Soviet-era missile, a commander said in a report on Thursday, after Moscow dropped plans to supply Tehran with S-300 missiles. The website of Iran's English-language Press TV reported that the Islamic republic had "designed an air defence system that has the same capability as the Russian-made S-300 system."
"We have developed the system by upgrading systems like the S-200, and we have tested it successfully using all our potential and experience in the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), the Army and the Defence Ministry," it quoted Brigadier General Mohammad Hassan Mansourian, the deputy commander in the Iran's air defence unit, as saying.
It was unclear from the report about the nature of the test, and whether it was carried out during ongoing aerial defence war games. Last week Mansourian had told the state news agency IRNA that "very soon we will test long-range aerial defence missiles, including Iranian S-300s." Iran's military has long touted its intentions to come up with a long-range anti-aircraft missile system comparable to the S-300, after Moscow's refusal to deliver that system because of UN sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear drive.