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Wednesday, October 21, 2026
Iran’s new defense minister vows greater air defense with ‘new technologies’ in face of threats
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleNava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.
Iran’s newly appointed defense minister, Mehrdad Akhlaghi, says he has focused his new role on meeting the needs of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force and the regular military’s air defense branch.
“For us, responding to repeated threats is not a contest of rhetoric; it means turning threats into greater readiness and more effective defensive capabilities,” Akhlaghi says in a statement, according to Iranian news agency ISNA.
“We are focusing on our objectives with new technologies,” he adds, concluding, “we will eat dirt, but we will not give up our land.”
He does not specify what those new technologies may include. Akhlaghi was sanctioned by the United Nations in 2007 over involvement in Iran’s ballistic missile program.
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