Domestically made surface to air missile system Bavar 373 to join Iranian Defence Force, pitched to be better than S-300
The President of Iran – Hassan Rouhani has said that Iran has inducted a locally built long range missile system, Bavar-373 into the country’s missile defence network.
The work on ‘Bavar’ which means ‘believe’ in Farsi, commenced after international sanctions compelled Iran to not to purchase S-330 system from Russia. With a range of more than 200 kms., Bavar can strike targets at an altitude of 65 kms. and is better than S-300 missile systems.
Speaking about holding talks with U.S. – Rouhani said, “Now that our enemies do not accept logic, we cannot respond with logic.”
He further added, “When the enemy launches a missile against us, we cannot give a speech and say: ‘Mr. Rocket, please do not hit our country and our innocent people. Rocket-launching sir, if you can please hit a button and self-destroy the missile in the air.”
The tensions between United States (U.S.) and Iran have been continuously rising after U.S. abandoned the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as Iran nuclear deal. The deal was reached in Vienna on July 14, 2015, between Iran, the P5+1 (the 5 permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—China, France, Russia, U.K., U.S. – plus Germany) and European Union (E.U.).
As per the agreement, Iran agreed to eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium, cut its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98%, and reduce by about 2/3rd the number of its gas centrifuges for 13 years. For the next 15 years Iran will only enrich uranium up to 3.67%.
The relations got worse when Iran, in response to U.S.’s withdrawal, produced low-enriched uranium beyond the permissible limits of JCPOA. Post this, the relations turned hostile after Iran claimed they have downed a U.S. drone on June 20, 2019 over the Strait of Hormuz. This was followed by downing of an Iranian drone by USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship of U.S. Navy, on July 19, 2019, in the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Minister of Iran – Mohammad Javad Zarif has expressed hope over the intervention of the President of France – Emmanuel Macron who offered to soften the sanctions imposed on Iran in breach of the JCPOA deal and also said to work-out a mechanism which is in the larger interest of the people of Iran.
Speaking at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Zarif said, “There are proposals on the table, both from the French and the Iranian side, and we are going to work on those proposals tomorrow.”
Zarif also said that U.S. is promoting economic terrorism against Iran. He informed the audience that U.K., Australia and Bahrain have joined the U.S. in their mission. He also clarified that Iran will never start the war. But if the U.S. begins the war, it will definitely defend itself from U.S.
