Iran And Russia Military Cooperation

 The head of Russia’s air force, Gen. Viktor Bondarev, met his Iranian counterparts in Tehran to discuss boosting military cooperation between the countries, local media reported Monday.

Talks centerd on “electronic listening systems, radar and missiles,” Brig. Gen. Farzad Esmaili, head of Khatam-ol-Anbia Air Defence Base, said in comments quoted by daily Sharq.

Esmaili also said that Bondarev had discussed the delivery of Russian-built S-300 ballistic missiles with Iranian air force chiefs.

Russia signed a contract in 2007 to deliver five of the advanced ground to-air missiles — which can take out aircraft or guided missiles — to Iran at a cost of $800 million (€590 million).

In 2010, then-president Dmitry Medvedev canceled the contract because of UN sanctions and strong US and Israeli pressure over concerns for Tehran’s disputed nuclear ambition.

Iran lodged a $4 billion lawsuit at an international court in Geneva against Russia.

But Esmaili said “we can get S-300 missiles or other similar systems when the disputes are resolved,” Sharq reported.

Bondarev also met Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ air division. Hajizadeh offered him a “Yasseer” drone, a copy of US ScanEagle unmanned aircraft, as a gift.

In September, Iran’s army unveiled the Yasseer drone, which can fly for eight hours with a range of 200 kilometers (124 miles) and reach an altitude of 4,500 meters (15,000 feet).

It resembles the US ScanEagle, a surveillance drone that Iran claimed to have captured in late 2012.

Hajizadeh also gave Bondarev surveillance footage of “foreign forces in the Persian Gulf,” Sepahnews, the official site of the elite Revolutionary Guards, reported.

Over the last 20 years, Iran and Russia have developed a close military cooperation, with Moscow supplying bomber jets and other hardware.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) denies developing ICBM

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has released a statement refuting media reports that cited the commander of its aerospace division as saying his forces have missiles with a range of 12,000 km.

The 12 October statement said Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh actually said: "At present, the range of our long-range missiles is 2,000 km." He added that there was no point committing resources to the development of a longer-range missile because "our enemies are within this range".

Iranian officials say that its Shahab-3 liquid-fuel and Sejil (also spelt Sejjil or Sajil) solid-fuel ballistic missiles have a range of 2,000 km that can be used to target Israel.

Nevertheless, there have been signs that Iran is working on a missile that is capable of targeting the United States. The unclassified version of the annual report on Iranian military power that the US Department of Defense submitted to Congress in 2012 noted that "Iran may be technically capable of flight-testing an intercontinental ballistic missile [ICBM] by 2015".

Indeed, there have been signs that Iran has continued to work on new missiles after the Sejil tests in November 2008 and May 2009.

For example, satellite imagery previously published by IHS Jane's showed a surge of activity at the Bid Ganeh missile development facility from 2009 until it was largely destroyed by an explosion on 12 November 2011.

More recently, IHS Jane's revealed in August that Iran has invested significant resources into building a new facility near the city of Shahrud that could be used to test longer-range, solid-fuel missiles.

US renews nuclear overtures to Iran

US renews nuclear overtures to Iran

A top US official on Wednesday stepped up overtures to Iran to prove that it wants a nuclear proliferation deal with the West.

"We should be cautious but cognizant of potentially historic opportunities," Rose Gottemoeller, US assistant secretary of state for arms control told a UN disarmament committee.

"We must continue to push to bring Iran back into line with its international nuclear obligations," Gottemoeller told the forum, which included Iranian diplomats.

"The United States is ready to talk. We are ready to listen. We are ready to work hard and we hope that every country in this room is ready to do the same," Gottemoeller said.

"The road toward the next steps might not be familiar and it will require difficult negotiations and complicated diplomacy," said the US official.

Western nations say they are waiting for the Iranian government to follow up on statements made by President Hassan Rouhani that his country wants an accord to end western doubts about Iran's nuclear drive.

The United States, Britain and France say they believe Iran seeks a nuclear bomb capability. Iran, which is under several rounds of UN sanctions over its uranium enrichment, denies the charge.

European foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton -- negotiating for the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and China -- is to meet with Iranian negotiators in Geneva next Tuesday.

Western diplomats say this will be a first chance to test Iran's intentions. Rouhani said he wanted a deal within a year. US President Barack Obama has insisted though that Iran must follow up with concrete actions.

Gottemoeller said North Korea, which like Iran faces UN sanctions over its nuclear program, must also "meet its own denuclearization commitments."

"It too can have an opportunity to reintegrate into the international community if it does so," the US official added.

Gottemoeller said there has to be greater international efforts to "further arms reductions, increase transparency, ban the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons use and more."

She renewed calls for the "immediate commencement of long-delayed negotiations on a fissile material cut-off treaty at the (UN) Conference on Disarmament."

"This treaty is the obvious next step in multilateral disarmament and it is time to get to the negotiating table," Goettemoeller said adding to mounting calls made at the meeting for negotiations to start.

Pakistan has repeatedly blocked international attempts to start talks on a treaty to control fissile material for nuclear weapons.

US renews nuclear overtures to Iran

US renews nuclear overtures to Iran

A top US official on Wednesday stepped up overtures to Iran to prove that it wants a nuclear proliferation deal with the West.

Iran claims breakthrough with Israeli-lookalike combat UAVs

Iran's Revolutionary Guards say they're now producing armed unmanned aerial vehicles, such as the Shahed-129, capable of attacking air and ground targets.

If that's correct, it marks a significant technological advance for the Islamic Republic's defense industry -- even if the Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles, or UCAVs, do appear to be rip-offs of Israeli or U.S. systems.

US-Iran Thaw Puts Israeli Attack Options on Ice

Talking to Tehran: US President Barack Obama speaks on the phone from the White House with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani 

TEL AVIV — Israel is reassessing its dwindling options for combating the Iranian nuclear threat as a war-weary White House and other world powers meet in Geneva later this month to probe diplomatic prospects for a deal with Tehran.

Iran 'Captures' US ScanEagle Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed that it has captured an intact US Scan Eagle Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) which was violating its airspace. Images of the captured drone were displayed by Iranian State television.

Iranian state TV showed the Rear Adm. Ali Fadavi, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards Corps naval forces inspecting the American ScanEagle drone.

Spokesperson of the United States Navy (USN) in Bahrain has rejeted such reports and said, “The U.S. Navy has fully accounted for all unmanned air vehicles (UAV) operating in the Middle East region. Our operations in the gulf are confined to internationally recognized water and air space.” “We have no record that we have lost any ScanEagles recently.”


Lasy year, in December, Iranian Revolutionary Guards displayed the captured American RQ-170 Sentinel Stealth Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

Iranian Gatling gun

Iran to continue nuclear program decisively: Zarif

Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the country’s nuclear issue can be resolved quickly, noting that the Islamic Republic will go ahead with its nuclear program.

“We believe that Iran’s nuclear issue can be resolved speedily, but I emphasize that we will proceed on this path decisively, strongly and firmly while safeguarding the [Iranian] nation’s rights,” Zarif told IRNA in New York on Tuesday.

He warned that any delay in the settlement of the Iranian nuclearissue would not benefit anyone, saying that it is possible to speed up the existing process in order to achieve a final result.

“Iran has taken the first step in order to prove to the world that it does not seek to develop nuclearweapons and has no intention in this regard, and now only the political will of the opposite side is needed to find a solution instead of seeking pretexts,” the Iranian minister added.

Iran’s foreign minister and his counterparts from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany held talks in New York on September 26 over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.

The UN meeting was chaired by the EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, who announced that the parties would meet again in Geneva on October 15-16 to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.

Following the meeting, US Secretary of State John Kerry said a deal with Iran over its nuclear program could come in a few months.

The US, Israel, and some of their allies have repeatedlyaccused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Tehran has categorically rejected the allegation, arguing that as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

Latest IRGC UAV, Shahed-129 became operational

n February 2, Iran unveiled an advanced home-made aircraft, named Qaher 313, in a ceremony attended by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 

Addressing a group of Iranian soldiers on Tuesday, Deputy Defense Minister General Majid Bokayee pointed to the confused remarks made by the US military analysts about the features and specifications of the aircraft, and said that enemies claimed the aircraft is just a paper model but later they said that it is an aircraft designed by the Islamic Republic for anti-chopper missions. 

"That was the Americans' analysis, but we bravely declare that Qaher, (designed and developed) at a cost of $2 to 3 million, is a Basiji (volunteer) aircraft to protect the Persian Gulf," Bokayee noted. 

In February, the aircraft's project manager told FNA that Qaher 313 has a "unique" structure and will be armed with home-made weapons and equipments in the future, adding that it enjoys such capabilities which will stun the enemies in battlefield. 

"The new aircraft has a unique face in terms of shape and structure and its design is unique in the world," Managing-Director of Iran's Aviation Industries Company Hassan Parvaneh said at the time. 

He added that the aircraft's broken wing design has gifted it the ability to fly in different low, mid and high altitudes. 

"Of course, the specific capability of Qaher is its capability of flying at low altitudes and that is a capability seen in no other similar aircraft."