Iranian commander says readying launch of air defense system more advanced than Russian S-300

The deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), Brig.-Gen. Hossein Salami announced on Saturday that his country has built a top secret air-defense system, which is more advanced than the Russian S-300.

"An air defense system more advanced than what they didn’t supply to us due to their strategic interests went on display in the IRGC's recent exhibition," Salami said in Tehran according to a report by Iran’s Fars news agency.

He said that the air-defense system would not be publicly displayed, but would "remain confidential" for now.

Media reports indicate that Iran has long sought to purchase the S-300 from Russia but has faced pressure from the US and Israel against the sale.

Russian officials told Amos Gilad in 2009, then head of the political-military bureau in the Defense Ministry, that the missiles to Iran would not be delivered for political reasons.

In the end, Russia scrapped the sale in 2010, and in what may have been a quid pro quo, Israel agreed to sell Russia surveillance drones that would narrow its technological military gap with Georgia.

Salami added, according to the report, that its ballistic missiles now enjoy "pinpoint precision capability when fired at mobile targets; this might be impossible in terms of science, but it is true and, in addition to us, only the Russians might possess this technology and even the Americans do not have it."

"As regards the ground force power, the IRGC stands atop the world, given its hundreds of martyrdom-seeking battalions and hundreds of highly trained combat battalions," he said.

Reuters contributed to this report.