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Summary Iran has drones more advanced than the unmanned aircraft, Iran's minister was quoted said Sunday.
Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi looks on as he attends the 24th Khwarizmi International Award (KIA) at the Irans state television conference centre in northern Tehran February 5, 2011.Irans military regularly announces defence and engineering developments though some analysts are sceptical of the reliability of such reports.Earlier this month, Israel shot down a drone after it flew 25 miles (55 km) into the Jewish state. Lebanese militant group Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the aircraft, saying its parts had been manufactured in Iran and assembled in Lebanon.Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said the downed drone did not use his countrys latest know-how, according to a report from Irans Mehr news agency on Sunday.The Islamic Republic of Iran currently possesses unmanned aircrafts with technology that is far more advanced than the drone recently sent by Hezbollah forces to fly in the skies of the Zionist regime (Israel), he was quoted as saying.Undoubtedly the technology in the (Hezbollah) drone ... was not Irans latest technology.Vahidi had earlier said that the drones launch into Israel was a sign of the Islamic Republics military capabilities.In April, Iran announced it had started to build a copy of a U.S. surveillance drone, the RQ-170 Sentinel, which was captured last year after it came down near the Afghan border.Tensions in the region have simmered over Irans disputed nuclear programme and Israeli threats to bomb its nuclear sites if diplomacy and sanctions fail to stop Iranian nuclear activity the West suspects is meant to develop a weapons capability.Tehran says it is seeking only civilian nuclear energy.In a speech on Saturday evening, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sought to present the country as a defender of peace and security in the Gulf region, echoing comments made in the past by Iranian military leaders.The Iranian nation has never been an aggressor nation, but history has shown that it is a very good defender, Ahmadinejad said at a ceremony to honour Irans naval forces, according to the Iranian Students News Agency.The Islamic Republic of Iran has always been a protector of the security of the Persian Gulf.He said: The security of the Persian Gulf has only been undermined when outsiders have been present there. Other than at such points, the Persian Gulf has been completely secure and this security has been created by Iran.Iranian officials have said previously that the country could block the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for the worlds sea-borne oil trade, or strike U.S. military bases in the region if it is attacked.
