Iran announces new missile production line

Iran’s air defence missiles seen at their new production facility on 22 July 2017 [Iranian Ministry of Defence]

Iran’s new Sayyad-3 air defence missiles seen at their new production facility, unveiled on July 22, 2017. The Sayyad-3 missiles are able to travel 75 miles and reach an altitude of 17 miles. [Iranian Ministry of Defence]

Iran’s new air defence missiles seen at their production facility on 22 July 2017 [Iranian Ministry of Defence]

Iran announced the launch of a new missile production line on Saturday, according to state media, against a backdrop of tension between the United States and Tehran.

The Sayyad 3 missile can reach an altitude of 27 km (17 miles) and travel up to 120 km (75 miles), Iranian defence minister Hossein Dehghan said at a ceremony.

The missile can target fighter planes, unmanned aerial vehicles, cruise missiles and helicopters, Dehghan said.

Last week, the United States slapped new economic sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missile program, and said Tehran’s “malign activities” in the Middle East undercut any “positive contributions” coming from a 2015 Iran nuclear accord.

The measures signalled that the administration of President Donald Trump was seeking to put more pressure on Iran while keeping in place the agreement between Tehran and six world powers to curb its nuclear program in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions.

Read: Iran skips opportunity to upset nuclear deal over US sanctions

The US government said it was targeting 18 entities and people for supporting what it said were “illicit Iranian actors or transnational criminal activity”.

Iranian defence minister Dehghan said at the ceremony on Saturday that the recent $110 billion military deal between the United States and Saudi Arabia, announced during Trump’s visit to Riyadh in May, was intended as a threat to Iran.

According to the website for state TV, Dehghan said:

We recently witnessed an immense purchase that some countries in the region paid as a ransom to America and they intend to bring weapons into the region, and this purchase was done with the goal of threatening Islamic Iran

Read: Iran to introduce sanctions on US

Iran’s new Sayyad-3 air defence missiles seen at their new production facility, unveiled on July 22, 2017. The Sayyad-3 missiles are able to travel 75 miles and reach an altitude of 17 miles. [Iranian Ministry of Defence]

Iran’s new Sayyad-3 air defence missiles seen at their new production facility, unveiled on July 22, 2017. The Sayyad-3 missiles are able to travel 75 miles and reach an altitude of 17 miles. [Iranian Ministry of Defence]

Iran’s new Sayyad-3 air defence missiles seen at their new production facility, unveiled on July 22, 2017. The Sayyad-3 missiles are able to travel 75 miles and reach an altitude of 17 miles. [Iranian Ministry of Defence]

Iran’s new Sayyad-3 air defence missiles seen at their new production facility, unveiled on July 22, 2017. The Sayyad-3 missiles are able to travel 75 miles and reach an altitude of 17 miles. [Iranian Ministry of Defence]

Iran’s new Sayyad-3 air defence missiles seen at their new production facility, unveiled on 22 July, 2017 [Iranian Ministry of Defence]

Iran’s new Sayyad-3 air defence missiles seen at their new production facility, unveiled on July 22, 2017. The Sayyad-3 missiles are able to travel 75 miles and reach an altitude of 17 miles. [Iranian Ministry of Defence]

Iran’s new Sayyad-3 air defence missiles seen at their new production facility, unveiled on July 22, 2017. The Sayyad-3 missiles are able to travel 75 miles and reach an altitude of 17 miles. [Iranian Ministry of Defence]

Iran’s new Sayyad-3 air defence missiles seen at their new production facility, unveiled on July 22, 2017. The Sayyad-3 missiles are able to travel 75 miles and reach an altitude of 17 miles. [Iranian Ministry of Defence]