WarSclerotic

Iran has recently deployed advanced S-300 missiles around one of its key nuclear sites, Israel’s Army Radio reported Monday.

According to Iranian state media, the Russian-made long-range defense system was deployed near the Fordo underground uranium enrichment facility.

Protecting nuclear facilities “is paramount under all circumstances. Today, Iran’s sky is one of the most secure in the region,” Agence France-Presse quoted Iranian Air Defenses Commander Gen. Farzad Esmaili as telling the country’s IRIB TV channel on Monday.

The channel aired a video showing S-300 missile batteries being trucked into Fordo. One battery was shown being placed into position, raising its missile launchers toward the sky next to other counter-strike weaponry.

Iranian media aired the footage following a speech by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to air force commanders, including Esmaili. In his speech, Khamenei stressed that Iran’s military power “was for defensive purposes only.”

“Continued opposition and hype on the S-300 or the Fordo site are examples of the viciousness of the enemy,” Khamenei said. “The S-300 system is a defense system, not an assault one, but the Americans did their best for Iran not to get hold of it.”

Under the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the West, uranium enriching operations in Fordo, built into a mountain near the city of Qom, southwest of Tehran, stopped in January 2016. The deal required Iran to dismantle most of the estimated 19,000 centrifuges installed in the facility, keeping only 5,000 active for research purposes.