File image.
Iran has replaced air defenses damaged during last month’s conflict with Israel, Iran’s Defah Press news agency reported on July 20, quoting Rear Admiral Mahmoud Mousavi, the military’s deputy for operations.
Iran’s air defense network was badly hit during the 12-day war. Commandos of the Mossad spy agency did most of the damage, attacking air defense systems from within Iranian territories with small drones and guided missiles.
Despite losing multiple large drones, the Israeli Air Force was able to gain aerial superiority over the western and central parts of the Islamic Republic, including the capital of Tehran.
“Some of our air defenses were damaged, this is not something we can hide, but our colleagues have used domestic resources and replaced them with pre-arranged systems that were stored in suitable locations in order to keep the airspace secure,” Mousavi said.
Iran produces a wide range of air defense systems, like the Bavar-373 which is described as a competitor of the Russian S-300 long-range air defense system.
The fate of the Islamic Republic’s most advanced air defense systems, including its own S-300s, remains unclear to this day.
Earlier this month, the Middle East Eye claimed that China had delivered advanced air defense systems to Iran in the weeks following the ceasefire with Israel. The report speculated that the Islamic Republic may have received the HQ-9, a derivative of the S-300. However, the Chinese embassy in Israel later dismissed the report.
Iran’s air defense network was not really weak, it was the catastrophic failure of the security apparatus that led to the near complete collapse of the network.
By restoring its network Iran is just solving a small part of the problem. The Islamic Republic should make real efforts to reform its security structure, crackdown on Mossad activities and address the root causes that are allowing the spy agency to operate with much freedom in the country.
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