The system was unveiled in a Thursday ceremony held on the occasion of National Day of Defense Industry.

IRAN NEWS NATIONAL DESK

A distinguishing feature of Bavar-373 is its vertical launching system with square launchers, mostly used for air defense on warships.

Bavar-373 uses a long-range, phased array fire-control radar, dubbed Me’raj-4.

The air defense system employs three different types of missiles to hit targets at various altitudes.

Iranian military technicians have in recent years made great headways in manufacturing a broad range of indigenous equipment, making the armed forces self-sufficient in the arms sphere.

Meanwhile an Iranian Army general says the domestically-built missile defense system “Bavar-373” is much better than the US Patriot system and its Russian counterpart S-300.

“The system has been designed and developed considering the country’s need for a defense system with a high range,” Brigadier General Shahrokh Shahram, a deputy minister of defense and armed forces logistics, told Iran’s state TV Thursday night.

Bavar-373 missile system was developed as Iran “needed a missile system stronger than the Russian S-300, given the increasing threats” against the Islamic Republic, he added.

According to General Shahram, the Iranian system has a higher interception range and a greater combat power compared with the Russian counterpart, and enjoys over 10,000 compound eyes, each of which serves as a radar.

He also compared the Iranian system with the US-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Patriot systems, and said Bavar-373 is categorized at a higher class than THAAD and is much better than the Patriot system.

Meanwhile in the ceremony, Iran’s president has downplayed the U.S. administration’s efforts to defeat the Islamic Republic through its “maximum pressure” policy, saying Donald Trump and the Republican Party will soon lose their power while the Islamic Republic is still in power.

President Hassan Rouhani made the remarks in an address to a Thursday ceremony to unveil the homegrown “Bavar-373” missile defense system, which is a more advanced version of the Russian S-300.

Rouhani referred to a meeting he held last year with the head of a European country on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, and said, “In that meeting, the European official quoted the US president as saying that if Europeans cooperate with Trump and stop working with Iran, the Islamic Republic would not exist in three months’ time.”

“I told that European official that the man who made such a claim will leave office himself, and his party will also lose power, but the Islamic Republic will remain in power more strongly for hundreds of years more,” Rouhani said.

He said it’s been a year since the deadline given by Trump to that European official, but Iran is still strong despite the U.S. efforts to weaken the country.

“A superpower has mobilized all its facilities – from the CIA to the Treasury, the State Department, its security forces, and all its spies across the world to see which vessels approach Iranian ports or leave them.”

“The U.S. has never been weaker, alienated and isolated than now, and I cannot recall such a weak position for the U.S. in history,” Rouhani said.

“Just two days ago, the U.S. Secretary of State expressed his next year’s grief about Iran and said if the Iran nuclear deal remains in place, the anti-Iran arms embargoes will be lifted, and the country will be able to buy weapons,” he said.

However, he added, no one shared his concern. “The U.S. had never been so much humiliated and looked so much desperate in history.”

Also last year the U.S. president personally attended a UN Security Council meeting, but all the 14 members of the UNSC opposed him, he said.

“Trump was also mocked by all members of the UN General Assembly, and this is unprecedented in the history of the U.S. that its president is mocked at the UN.”

“The U.S. has been defeated, and we are the winners of this battle.”