Daijiworld Media Network – Tehran

Tehran, Aug 24: Iran’s Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh has revealed that Tehran has set up infrastructure to manufacture weapons in “several countries,” though he stopped short of naming the nations. His remarks came amid rising tensions following Israeli and US strikes on Iran earlier this summer.

Speaking in a televised interview, Nasirzadeh said “missile development” has remained a key priority for Iran. “The factories will likely be officially opened and announced in the near future,” he added, noting that new advanced and maneuverable warheads had also been tested in the past year.

His comments coincided with Iran’s naval drills on Thursday, during which cruise missiles were test-fired at surface targets in the Gulf of Oman and northern Indian Ocean. The exercises came weeks after Iran held joint Casarex 2025 drills with Russia in the Caspian Sea.

Reflecting on June’s 12-day war with Israel, Nasirzadeh claimed that if the conflict had stretched beyond 15 days, Israeli forces would have failed to intercept Iranian missiles. “In the early days, about 40% of our missiles were intercepted, but by the end, 90% were striking their targets,” he said, adding that Iran did not deploy its “most precise weapon,” the Qassem Basir missile.

The June conflict erupted after Israeli strikes killed senior Iranian commanders and damaged key nuclear sites. Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone attacks killed 32 people in Israel, while Tehran reported 1,062 deaths. A US-brokered ceasefire halted hostilities on June 24.

Earlier this month, Yahya Safavi, senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, warned that the region remains volatile. “We are not in a ceasefire, we are in a stage of war. No agreement has been written between us and the US or Israel,” he told local media.