Iran Tests Air-Defence Missile System

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Iran successfully tests S-200 air defense missile system

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Iran successfully test-fired an air missile, Iranian state media has reported.

Pictures broadcast on Saturday showed the launch of a missile system called S-200.  Though it shares the same name a Russian missile S-200, it is said to have the capabilities of a stronger Russian system known as the S-300, according to Press TV.

The missile is capable of identifying and hitting targets at low and medium altitudes, according to General Hamid Arjangi, a spokesman for the five-day exercise.

The military exercise that concluded on Saturday was the country's biggest air drill.

Iran frequently unveils new weapons and military systems and conducts several war games every year, as part of its military self-sufficiency programme that started in 1992. 

Its claims cannot be independently verified.

Since Israel has refused to rule out an air strike over concerns that Tehran is developing nuclear weapons, Iran has been looking to upgrade its air defences.

Iran insists the programme is only for peaceful purposes.  It has also said Israel would face a "devastating retaliation" if it attacked the Islamic republic.