WarSclerotic

Iran plans to boost its ballistic and cruise missile capacity and acquire modern fighter planes and submarines, state news agency IRNA quoted a senior Iranian defense official as saying on Saturday.

The report came a day after Iran dismissed a French call for negotiations on Iran’s future nuclear plans, its ballistic missile arsenal and its role in the wars in Syria and Yemen, in the wake of the U.S. pullout from the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers.

Iranian state media also reported the launch last week of war games involving some 150,000 volunteer Basij militia members, who vowed to defend the Islamic republic against “foreign threats,” including from the United States.

Tehran is furious over U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the nuclear accord and reimpose sanctions on Iran.

Senior Iranian officials say the country will not yield easily to a renewed U.S. campaign to strangle Iran’s vital oil exports. They also say Iran’s missile program is solely for defense purposes and is not negotiable, as is being demanded by the United States and European countries.

“Increasing ballistic and cruise missile capacity and the acquisition of next-generation fighters and heavy and long-range vessels and submarines with various weapons capabilities are among the new plans of this ministry,” IRNA quoted Deputy Defense Minister for International Affairs Mohammad Ahadi as saying.

Speaking to Tehran-based foreign military attaches, Ahadi said international sanctions had not hampered the development of Iran’s arms industry.

“We have the necessary infrastructure and what we need to do is research and development, and at the same time upgrade and update the defense industry while relying on the country’s very high scientific capacities and tens of thousands of graduates in technical fields and engineering,” Ahadi said.

He also defended Iran’s role in conflicts in Iraq and Syria, saying, “If Iran and its allies in Syria and Iraq had not stopped [the jihadi group] Islamic State, today the map of the region would be different and the world would face a terrible challenge.”

Separately, the head of the Defense Ministry’s naval industries said Iran is developing a water jet propulsion system that will be ready by March next year, and a military commander said the Iranian air force is planning to adopt the new Kowsar fighter plane after successful tests, the semi-official news agency Tasnim reported.

Last month, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the Islamic republic’s military prowess was what was deterring the U.S. from attacking it.

The exercises by the Basij militia, which are led by the elite Revolutionary Guards, come ahead of massive annual rallies planned for later this month to mark the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

“The motto of these war games is unity … and to declare that, when it comes to adversity and threats from foreigners, we all join to defend the [Islamic] republic’s system,” Basij commander Gholam-Hossein Gheibparvar was quoted as saying by IRNA.