TEHRAN: Iran intends to manufacture or upgrade up to 800 tanks, the Tasnim news agency quoted Deputy Defense Minister Reza Mozaffarinia as saying on Wednesday. He did not specify the type of tanks he was referring to, or how many would fit into each category. “The upgrade and manufacture of 700 to 800 tanks has been planned,” he was quoted as saying. “Annually there are 50 to 60 tanks manufactured and a sufficient budget has been allocated because the army and Revolutionary Guards have a great need.” While the United States and European powers have long sought to curb Iran´s ballistic missile program but its conventional military forces are thought to be weaker than its main regional rival Saudi Arabia. According to the CIA factbook, Iran´s military expenditure as a percentage of GDP was 2.69 percent in 2015 and Saudi Arabia´s 9.86 percent in 2016. </s> (Reuters) - Iran intends to manufacture or upgrade up to 800 tanks, the Tasnim news agency quoted Deputy Defense Minister Reza Mozaffarinia as saying on Wednesday.

He did not specify the type of tanks he was referring to, or how many would fit into each category.

"The upgrade and manufacture of 700 to 800 tanks has been planned," he was quoted as saying. "Annually there are 50 to 60 tanks manufactured and a sufficient budget has been allocated because the army and Revolutionary Guards have a great need."

While the United States and European powers have long sought to curb Iran's ballistic missile program but its conventional military forces are thought to be weaker than its main regional rival Saudi Arabia.

According to the CIA factbook, Iran's military expenditure as a percentage of GDP was 2.69 percent in 2015 and Saudi Arabia's 9.86 percent in 2016.

In a December report, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said Iran would modernize and rebalance its conventional forces "to reflect lessons learned in Syria."

Iran has been fighting in Syria in support of the government of president Bashar al-Assad since 2012.

(Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; editing by John Stonestreet) </s> Iran’s Deputy Defense Minister Reza Mozaffarinia says Tehran has plans to manufacture or upgrade 700 to 800 battle tanks.

In remarks quoted on July 18 by Iran’s Tasnim news agency, Mozaffarinia did not specify the type of tanks he was referring to or how many would be newly built compared to how many would be upgraded.

He also did not mention a timeline for the completion of the project.

“Annually, there are 50 to 60 tanks manufactured and a sufficient budget has been allocated because the army and Revolutionary Guards have a great need," Mozaffarinia said.

The United States and European powers have long sought to curb Iran's ballistic-missile program.

But Iran’s conventional military forces are thought to be weaker than its main regional rival, Saudi Arabia.

According to the CIA's World Factbook, Iran's military expenditure as a percentage of GDP was 2.69 percent in 2015, while Saudi Arabia's was 9.86 percent in 2016.

In a December report, the International Institute for Strategic Studies predicted that Iran would modernize and rebalance its conventional forces "to reflect lessons learned in Syria."

Iranian forces have been fighting in Syria since 2012 in support of the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Based on reporting by Reuters and Tasnim </s> Taipei, June 6: Taiwan has confirmed it has asked to purchase more than 100 US tanks, along with air defence and anti-tank missile systems in a major potential arms sale that could worsen frictions between Washington and Beijing.

The Defence Ministry says it has submitted a letter of request for 108 cutting-edge M1A2 Abrams tanks, 1,240 TOW anti-armor missiles, 409 Javelin anti-tank missiles and 250 Stinger man-portable air defense systems. It says Thursday the request is proceeding "as normal."

The US is the main supplier of defensive weapons to Taiwan, which China considers its own territory. The M1 Abrams would mark a significant upgrade from the aging tanks Taiwan's army now uses. Reports have also said Taiwan is seeking 66 additional F-16 fighter jets. </s> TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan has confirmed it has asked to purchase more than 100 U.S. tanks, along with air defense and anti-tank missile systems in a major potential arms sale that could worsen frictions between Washington and Beijing.

The Defense Ministry says it has submitted a letter of request for 108 cutting-edge M1A2 Abrams tanks, 1,240 TOW anti-armor missiles, 409 Javelin anti-tank missiles and 250 Stinger man-portable air defense systems.

It says Thursday the request is proceeding “as normal.”

The U.S. is the main supplier of defensive weapons to Taiwan, which China considers its own territory. The M1 Abrams would mark a significant upgrade from the aging tanks Taiwan’s army now uses.

Reports have also said Taiwan is seeking 66 additional F-16 fighter jets.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> An Iranian factory has started to produce rotors for up to 60 centrifuges a day, upping the stakes in a confrontation with the United States over the Islamic Republic's nuclear work.

The announcement by the head of Iran's atomic agency on Wednesday came a month after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered agencies to prepare to increase uranium enrichment capacity, if a nuclear deal with world powers falls apart after Washington's withdrawal.

Under terms of the 2015 agreement, which was also signed by Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

The other signatories have scrambled to save the accord, arguing it offers the best way to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

Iran has said it will wait to see what the other powers will do, but signalled it is ready to get its enrichment activities back on track. It has regularly said its nuclear work is just for electricity generation and other peaceful projects.

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the new factory did not in itself break the terms of the agreement.

"Instead of building this factory in the next seven or eight years, we built it during the negotiations but did not start it," said Salehi, according to state media.

"Of course, the [supreme leader] was completely informed and we gave him the necessary information at the time. And now that he has given the order, this factory has started all of its work."

The factory would have the capacity to build rotors for as many as 60 IR-6 centrifuges per day, he added.

Last month, Salehi announced Iran began working on infrastructure for building advanced centrifuges at its Natanz facility.

Salehi also told state TV on Wednesday the effort to acquire uranium has resulted in a stockpile of as much as 950 tonnes.

He said Iran imported 400 tonnes since the 2015 landmark nuclear deal, bringing its stockpile to between 900-950 tonnes - up from 500 tonnes.

Salehi said that's enough for Iran to reach its longtime goal of 190,000 centrifuge machines to enrich uranium.

The nuclear accord limits Iran's uranium enrichment to 3.67 percent, enough to use in a nuclear power plant but far lower than the 90 percent needed for an atomic weapon.

However, since the US pulled out of the deal in May, Iran has vowed to boost enrichment capacity to put pressure on the remaining signatories to live up to the agreement. </s> (Reuters) - Iran has built a factory that can produce rotors for up to 60 centrifuges a day, the head of its atomic agency said on Wednesday, upping the stakes in a confrontation with Washington over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear work.

FILE PHOTO: Head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi attends the lecture "Iran after the agreement: Hopes & Concerns" in Vienna, Austria, September 28, 2016. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

The announcement came a month after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he had ordered agencies to prepare to increase uranium enrichment capacity if a nuclear deal with world powers falls apart after Washington’s withdrawal from the pact.

Under the terms of the 2015 agreement, which was also signed by Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The other signatories have been scrambling to save the accord, arguing it offers the best way to stop Iran developing a nuclear bomb.

Iran has said it will wait to see what the other powers can do, but has signaled it is ready to get its enrichment activities back on track. It has regularly said its nuclear work is just for electricity generation and other peaceful projects.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the new factory did not in itself break the terms of the agreement.

A spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the organization is aware of the announcement but has “no comment.”

“Instead of building this factory in the next seven or eight years, we built it during the negotiations but have not started it,” Salehi, said, according to state media.

“Of course, the [Supreme Leader] was completely informed and we gave him the necessary information at the time. And now that he has given the order this factory has started all its work.”

The factory would have the capacity to build rotors for up to 60 IR-6 centrifuges per day, he added.

Related Coverage European Investment Bank casts doubt on EU plan to salvage nuclear deal

Separately, Salehi said that Iran now had a stockpile of up to 950 tons of uranium. He said Iran had imported 550 tons of uranium before the nuclear agreement and had acquired approximately another 400 tons after the agreement was finalized, bringing the total stockpile to between 900 and 950 tons.

Salehi did not specify where the additional 400 tons of uranium had come from.

Last month, Salehi announced that Iran has begun working on infrastructure for building advanced centrifuges at its Natanz facility. </s> Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, announced on Wednesday that a new factory capable of producing 60 nuclear centrifuge rotors per day is completed and ready to go online if the nuclear deal collapses.

He also said Iran has been steadily acquiring uranium despite the “denuclearization” agreement and now has 950 tons of uranium ready to enrich.

Salehi said these measures were taken in accordance with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s order to prepare for the collapse of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal), following the American withdrawal. He then admitted Iran was working on the centrifuge factory and piling up uranium even before the ink dried on the nuclear deal, as Reuters reported:

“Instead of building this factory in the next seven or eight years, we built it during the negotiations but have not started it,” Salehi, said, according to state media. “Of course, the [Supreme Leader] was completely informed and we gave him the necessary information at the time. And now that he has given the order this factory has started all its work.” The factory would have the capacity to build rotors for up to 60 IR-6 centrifuges per day, he added. Separately, Salehi said that Iran now had a stockpile of up to 950 tons of uranium. He said Iran had imported 550 tons of uranium before the nuclear agreement and had acquired approximately another 400 tons after the agreement was finalized, bringing the total stockpile to between 900 and 950 tons. Salehi did not specify where the additional 400 tons of uranium had come from.

Iran’s lone civilian nuclear power plant requires just 27 tons of fuel per year, but Salehi claimed Iran’s entirely peaceful domestic uranium needs require searching for new deposits in Iran and spinning up the large-scale processing facility in Isfahan.

AFP quoted a spokesman for the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization pitching his agency’s activities as nuclear blackmail against wavering Europeans:

“We have of course adopted some measures in order to prepare the ground for eventually increasing the level of enrichment if it is needed and if the negotiations with the Europeans fail,” Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman and vice-president of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, told a news conference in Tehran. “We are of course continuing to carry out and implement our obligations based on the JCPOA,” he said, referring to the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that put strict limits on its atomic program in return for sanctions relief. “But at the same time, taking every scenario into consideration, we are preparing ourselves,” he added.

France, Germany, and the U.K. offered Iran a package of “economic guarantees” this month to keep them in the deal, but Iran judged their offer “insufficient” and demanded more.

Iran has declared its patience with negotiations is running out and the Europeans had better pony up more tribute quickly. European leaders are squirming under these demands because they know it will be difficult to convince their corporations to do business with Iran under the threat of secondary U.S. sanctions.

Iran is flirting with cryptocurrencies to alleviate these concerns by reducing American economic leverage, as the mullahs nervously eye their declining economy and wonder if the next protest movement might be too much for them to control.

While Iran was busy making a mockery of President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal by piling up a mountain of radioactive material and revealing it was never more than a month away from enriching it on an enormous scale, it was also busy filing suit against the Trump administration at the International Court of Justice, alleging that pulling out of the JCPOA was a crime. </s> Baku. 22 August. REPORT.AZ/ Iran on Saturday unveiled a new surface-to-surface missile it said could strike targets with pin-point accuracy within a range of 500 km (310 miles) and it said military might was a precondition for peace and effective diplomacy, Report informs Reuters.

The defense ministry's unveiling of the solid-fuel missile, named Fateh 313, came little more than a month after Iran and world powers reached a deal that requires Tehran to abide by new limits on its nuclear program in return for Western governments easing economic sanctions.

According to that deal, any transfer to Iran of ballistic missile technology during the next eight years will be subject to the approval of the United Nations Security Council, and the United States has promised to veto any such requests. An arms embargo on conventional weapons also stays, preventing their import and export for five years.

But Iran has said it will not follow parts of the nuclear deal that restricts its military capabilities, a stance reaffirmed by President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday.

"We will buy, sell and develop any weapons we need and we will not ask for permission or abide by any resolution for that," he said in a speech at the unveiling ceremony broadcast live on state television.

"We can negotiate with other countries only when we are powerful. If a country does not have power and independence, it cannot seek real peace," he said.
Iran states that it intends to manufacture and upgrade up to 800 tanks.