As speculations grow about a possible Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear sites by Israel, the Iranian regime has increased its air defenses around the Fordo uranium enrichment facility in the north of the country, according to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and Iranian media.
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On Thursday, Iran's air defense commander Alireza Sabahifard inaugurated a command and control facility of the Hazrat Masumeh Air Defense Group around the site, saying that Iran was expanding its air defense system and "the enemy should not even think of attacking Iran."
He also said Iran's air and cyber defense systems were exceptionally advanced.
Fordo is an underground facility for enriching uranium using IR2-M centrifuges. Tehran began enriching uranium at Fordo to 20% in January. At the same time, the Natanz enrichment facility in Isfah, central Iran, began enriching uranium to 60%.
A fire broke out in the Natanz facility in April 2021. In January 2013, an explosion occurred at a facility in Fordo and a nearby electrical facility.
Iranian Deputy Defense Minister Mahdi Farahi said that Tehran would soon launch a new and more advanced version of its Bavar-373 air defense system that could be as advanced, or even more, than Russia's S-400. Iran unveiled Bavar-373 in August 2019 after it independently developed a system in response to Russia's prohibition on exporting its defense system at the time, S-300, to Iran.
Farahi claimed the new system would be capable of identifying 300 targets simultaneously, tracking 60 of them, engaging six targets simultaneously, and even counter attempts to jam the system.
In June, Dmitry Shugaev, director of the Russian Military-Technical Cooperation Service, said that if the new Iranian system will indeed be better than Russia's S-400, then it will be capable of hitting targets within a 400-kilometer (250 miles) radius. He also said that during a visit to a military exhibition in Russia in 2020, the Iranian defense minister was interested in several Russian air defense systems, including the S-400.
Senior researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall said that due to past experience and sanctions imposed on Iran, the regime constantly strives to improve and upgrade the air defense of its nuclear sites and strategic infrastructure with systems of its own.
He stressed that Iran's acquisition of S-400 could lead to US sanctions on Russia, despite the fact that the United States has lifted the Iran embargo on arms exports and imports as part of the nuclear deal negotiations.
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