replicated version of the Russian S-300 anti-air defense missile system. The claim was widely viewed as laughable. The state news agency quoted Pasdar Brig. Gen. Mohammad-Hassan Mansurian as saying, “The Iranian [version] of the S-300 system is undergoing field modification and will be test-fired soon.” It has been only two months since Russia canceled its contract with Iran to supply the S-300 and prompted several Iranians to say Iran would build its own S-300. Iran does not have even a single S-300 from which to reverse engineer the system, however. The S-300 is not just a missile, but also a system with radar to track multiple targets, the capability to fire multiple missiles in succession and a command and control system to guide the missiles to separate targets. The day after Mansurian announced that Iran had an S-300, Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi backed away from the claim: “We have announced before that we don’t intend to build an S-300 air defense system per se. We have placed the building of long-range air defense system on our agenda. Of course, that will take time and, God willing, it will be completed on schedule and in line with the predicted time table.” He did not announce a timetable.
