Iran tests upgraded Russian air-defence missiles

Nov 18, 2010, 10:06 GMT

Tehran - Iran has tested a domestically upgraded version of the Russian S-200 air-defence missiles, the news network Press TV reported Thursday.

Press TV quoted a deputy air force commander as saying that Iranian experts have upgraded the S-200 system which Iran had purchased from the Soviet Union after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

General Mohammad Hassan Mansourian said that the newly designed air defence system has the same capability as the Russian-made S-300 and was successfully tested on Wednesday.

Iran had to make adjustments to air-defence system after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev cancelled in September the sale of a S-300 system because of United Nations Security Council sanctions against Iran.

The cancellation caused outrage among Iranian leaders with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accusing Medvedev to have been 'deceived by the Satan and sold out Iran to the United States.'

Russia and China are the only two major powers that still maintain extensive political and economic relations with Iran.

However, ties with Moscow have cooled since Medvedev took over the presidency in 2008, in part due to increased Russian support of US policies against Iran's disputed nuclear programmes.

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