Iran is set to test-fire a domestically-designed air defense system similar to the Russian S-300 after Russia refused to fulfill a delivery contract, the IRNA news agency said on Wednesday.

Russia signed a deal to deliver five battalions of S-300PMU-1 air defense systems to Iran in 2007 but banned the sale in September, saying the systems, along with a number of other weapons, were covered by the fourth round of sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council against Iran over its nuclear program in June.

“We had plans to purchase the S-300 from Russia as part of our agenda to meet some of our security needs, but under pressure from the United States and Israel, Russia refrained from delivering the defense system to our country,” Brig. Gen. Mohammad Hassan Mansourian said.

“Missile defense systems similar to S-300 will soon undergo test firing and field modification while other long-range systems are also being designed and developed,” Mansourian said.

The general also said Iran’s air defenses would soon be strengthened with a new generation of Mersad and Shahin missiles.

The advanced version of the S-300 missile system, called S-300PMU1, has a range of over 150 kilometers (over 100 miles) and can intercept ballistic missiles and aircraft at low and high altitudes, making it an effective tool for warding off possible air strikes.

Russia has delivered 29 Tor-M1 short-range air defense missile systems to Iran under a $700-million contract signed in late 2005. Russia has also trained Iranian Tor-M1 specialists, including radar operators and crew commanders. The S-300 system is significantly superior to the Tor-M1.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is known for brash rhetoric in addressing the West, but in a speech Sunday he went a step further using a deeply offensive insult in response to U.S. statements that the military option against Iran is still on the table.

“May the undertaker bury you, your table and your body, which has soiled the world,” he said using language in Iran reserved for hated enemies.

Several top U.S. officials including Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff have said in recent months that the military option remains on the table and there is a plan to attack Iran, although a military strike has been described as a bad idea.

The crowd of military men and clerics in the town of Hashtgerd just west of the capital chuckled at the president’s insult and applauded.

The speech was broadcast by both state television and the official English-language Press TV, but the latter glossed over the insult in the simultaneous translation.

Ahmadinejad’s remarks come in sharp contrast to ones he made to Al-Jazeera Arabic news channel in August in which he offered the U.S. Iran’s friendship.

In Sunday’s speech, Ahmadinejad also questioned once more who was behind the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. and said they gave Washington a pretext for seeking to dominate the region and plunder its oil wealth.

During his speech in front of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, he said a majority of people in the U.S. and around the world believe the American government staged the attacks, drawing a strong rebuke from President Barack Obama.

Ahmadinejad often resorts to provocative statements to lash out enemies. He has already compared the power of Iran’s enemies to a “mosquito,” saying Iran deals with the West over its nuclear activities from a position of power and he has likened the United States to a “farm animal trapped in a quagmire” in Afghanistan.

TEHRAN, Iran – A complex computer worm capable of seizing control of industrial plants has affected the personal computers of staff working at Iran’s first nuclear power station weeks before the facility is to go online, the official news agency reported Sunday.

The project manager at the Bushehr nuclear plant, Mahmoud Jafari, said a team is trying to remove the malware from several affected computers, though it “has not caused any damage to major systems of the plant,” the IRNA news agency reported.

It was the first sign that the malicious computer code, dubbed Stuxnet, which has spread to many industries in Iran, has also affected equipment linked to the country’s nuclear program, which is at the core of the dispute between Tehran and Western powers like the United States.

Experts in Germany discovered the worm in July, and it has since shown up in a number of attacks — primarily in Iran, Indonesia, India and the U.S.

The malware is capable of taking over systems that control the inner workings of industrial plants.

In a sign of the high-level concern in Iran, experts from the country’s nuclear agency met last week to discuss ways of fighting the worm.

The infection of several computers belonging to workers at Bushehr will not affect plans to bring the plant online in October, Jafari was quoted as saying.

The Russian-built plant will be internationally supervised, but world powers are concerned that Iran wants to use other aspects of its civil nuclear power program as a cover for making weapons. Of highest concern to world powers is Iran’s main uranium enrichment facility in the city of Natanz.

Iran, which denies having any nuclear weapons ambitions, says it only wants to enrich uranium to the lower levels needed for producing fuel for power plants. At higher levels of processing, the material can also be used in nuclear warheads.

The destructive Stuxnet worm has surprised experts because it is the first one specifically created to take over industrial control systems, rather than just steal or manipulate data.

The United States is also tracking the worm, and the Department of Homeland Security is building specialized teams that can respond quickly to cyber emergencies at industrial facilities across the country.

On Saturday, Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency reported that the malware had spread throughout Iran, but did not name specific sites affected.

“The mutual feeling is that the world needs a new management system,” the Mehr news agency quoted him as saying in his speech at the start of the two-day forum in Tehran attended by dignitaries from several African countries.

The hardline president, who has often blamed the West for the ongoing economic crisis, said the current world order was created by “former colonisers and slave masters… to continue exploiting the wealth of African nations.”

He offered Iran’s cooperation in helping develop Africa, saying the Islamic republic “has no limit” in aiding the continent, especially when it comes to exporting technology there.

Those attending the conference hosted by Tehran were Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika and his Senegalese counterpart Abdoulaye Wade, and ministers from several other African countries.

Mutharika said he envisioned a speedy development of relations between Iran and Africa over the next five years.

“We will soon witness the installation of many Iranian industries in Africa,” he said in his speech quoted by state television’s website.

The conference aims to discuss how Iran can assist in developing Africa.

TEHRAN (AFP) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled on Sunday a new long-range drone, dubbed Karar, which reportedly can bomb targets at high speed, state television reported.

Television footage showed the president applauding as a blue cloth which had been covering the drone was pulled back to reveal a short aircraft painted in military-green with the words “Bomber jet” written on its side.

Images were then broadcast on television showing the aircraft flying.

“This jet, before it heralds death for enemies, is the messenger of salvation and dignity for humanity,” Ahmadinejad said in his speech marking the unveiling of the drone in a hall at Tehran’s Malek Ashtar university.

The unveiling of the aircraft comes as Iran marks on Sunday its annual Defence Industry Day.

State television’s website reported that the drone has “different capabilities, including carrying bombs to destroy targets.” It said the plane can fly for a “long range at high speed.”

The website cited Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi as saying that the Karar is a “symbol of the versatility and advancement of Iran’s defence industries.”

The unveiling of Karar, the nickname of Imam Ali, the first Shiite imam, comes two days after Iran test fired a domestically built surface-to-surface missile, Qiam (Rising).

Over the next few days Iran is expected to make series of further military announcements as the nation marks the annual government week, a period used by Tehran to tout its achievements.

In this period Iran is also expected to test fire a third generation Fateh 110 (Conqueror) missile. Iran has previously paraded a version of Fateh 110 which has a travel range of 150 to 200 kilometres (90 to 125 miles).

Also during government week, the production lines of two missile-carrying speedboats, Seraj (Lamp) and Zolfaqar (named after Imam Ali’s sword) are due to be inaugurated.

The unveiling of Karar comes days after Iran took delivery of four new mini-submarines of the home-produced Ghadir class. Weighing 120 tonnes, the “stealth” submarines are aimed at operations in shallow waters, notably in the Gulf.

Iranian officials regularly boast about Tehran’s military capabilities and the latest declarations coincide with warnings by local officials against any attack on the Islamic republic.

Iran’s arch-foes the United States and Israel have not ruled out a military strike against Tehran to stop its controversial uranium enrichment programme.

Meanwhile, Iran on Saturday began loading nuclear fuel in its Russian-built first nuclear power plant located in the southern port of Bushehr.

The plant, which is not targeted by UN sanctions, eventually aims to generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity.

1/3 of the worlds population will die.

Egypt allowed at least one Israeli and 11 American warships to pass through the Suez Canal as an Iranian flotilla approaches Gaza. Egypt closed the canal to protect the ships with thousands of soldiers, according to the British-based Arabic language newspaper Al Quds al-Arabi.

One day prior to the report on Saturday, Voice of Israel government radio reported that the Egyptian government denied an Israeli request not to allow the Iranian flotilla to use the Suez Canal to reach Gaza, in violation of the Israeli sea embargo on the Hamas-controlled area.

International agreements require Egypt to keep the Suez open even for warships, but the armada, led by the USS Truman with 5,000 sailors and marines, was the largest in years. Egypt closed the canal to fishing and other boats as the armada moved through the strategic passageway that connects the Red and Mediterranean Seas.


Despite Egypt’s reported refusal to block the canal to Iranian boats, the clearance for the American-Israeli fleet may be a warning to Iran it may face military opposition if the Iranian Red Crescent ship continues on course to Gaza.

The warships may exercise the right to inspect the Iranian boat for the illegal transport or weapons. Newsweek reported that Egyptian authorities could stop the ship for weeks, using technicalities such as requiring that any official documents be translated from Farsi into Arabic.

The magazine’s website also reported that the Iranian navy is the weakest part of its armed forces. Tehran has already backed down from announced intentions to escort the Iranian ships with “volunteer marines” from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

The Iranian news site Hamsayeh.net reported, “The move might be in connection to U.S. self-inflicted embargo against Iran aimed at inspecting Iran bound ships for suspected goods related to the country’s nuclear program.”

Another battle on the high seas may involve one, and possibly two, Lebanese vessels that are aimed at challenging Israel’s sovereignty over the Gaza coastal waters. Hizbullah, gearing up for a reaction to a possible clash between the Israeli Navy (pictured) and the Lebanese boats, has delayed rocket units near Lebanese ports, according to unofficial military sources.

Israel has warned U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Israel will use force, if necessary, to stop the boats, one of which is carrying approximately 70 women passengers and crew organized by Hizbullah support Samar al-Hajj. Her husband is one of several jailed suspects involved in the assassination for former Lebanese anti-Syrian Prime Rafik Hariri.

Hizbullah has denied it is connected with the Lebanese flotilla, but it has been reported that Al Hajj met with Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah last month. (IsraelNationalNews.com)

“The conditions we are experiencing today need planning for new orders in the world and (our) cooperation and co-thinking for organizing the conditions,”Ahmadinejad told reporters before departing for Istanbul, Turkey to take part in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

Reminding that major world and Asian players will take part in the Istanbul conference, the Iranian president underlined that “Iran, too, will have active participation in drafting the final statement, taking stances as well as mutual consultations” with participants in the conference.