by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
S-300 missile systems
Moscow : Russia has delivered to Syria S-300 air defence systems to improve safety of its military personnel deployed in the country, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has said.
“We have completed the delivery of S-300 systems. This includes 49 pieces of equipment: lighting locators, basic detection systems, control vehicles and four launchers,” Shoigu said on Tuesday during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and members of the Russian Security Council, according to a Kremlin transcript.
The delivery was completed on Monday, which was part of measures aimed at strengthening air defence systems in Syria and the protection of Russian military personnel, the minister said, Xinhua reported.
In addition, the electronic warfare system in Syria was significantly strengthened and the delivery of equipment of the unified control system has also begun.
The Defence Ministry has started training the selected personnel and specialists to use the S-300 systems, which will last for three months, Shoigu said.
On September 17, a Russian Il-20 surveillance plane was mistakenly downed by Syria’s S-200 system when it was preparing to land at the Russian Hmeymim air base at a time when four Israeli jets were conducting an airstrike in the vicinity.
Last week, Shoigu said that Moscow will strengthen Syria’s air defence by providing it with modern S-300 missile systems and identification friend-or-foe (IFF) devices within two weeks.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : A confidential UN report has accused North Korea of continuing to develop nuclear and missile programmes in violation of international sanctions.
The report was prepared by independent experts who submit their findings every six months to the UN North Korea Sanctions Committee of the Security Council, CNN reported on Saturday.
The report also says North Korea is defying sanctions through diplomats and others based overseas and continues to sell conventional weapons to fuel violence.
The revelation comes as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in Singapore for an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) ministerial meeting, told reporters that he was an advocate of keeping pressure on Pyongyang as the country has yet to take any concrete steps to dismantling its nuclear program.
“I’ve also emphasized the importance of maintaining diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea, to achieve the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea as agreed to by chairman Kim (Jong-un),” he said.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the gathering of southeast Asian diplomats, Pompeo said he had called for “the complete shutdown of illegal ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum destined for North Korea”.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Washington : The US Treasury Department has announced sanctions against five Iranian entities.
The Treasury Department said late Thursday the five Iran-based entities were subordinate to a key element of Iran’s ballistic missile programme and the US action targeted Tehran’s “destabilising weapons systems”, reports Xinhua news agency.
As a result, US citizens are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.
Foreign financial institutions that knowingly facilitate significant transactions for, or persons that provide material or certain other support to, the designated entities risk exposure to sanctions that could sever their access to the US financial system or block their property and property interests under the American jurisdiction.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the US will continue to counter Iran with “additional sanctions”.
Last week, riots broke out in some Iranian cities in protest against price hikes and economic woes.
US President Donald Trump and a number of other American officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, have sided with the protesters.
Iran’s Ambassador to the UN Gholamali Khoshroo on Wednesday slammed the US government’s attempts to intervene in the domestic affairs of the Islamic Republic.
“The current US administration has crossed every limit in flouting rules and principles of international law governing the civilised conduct of international relations,” Khoshroo said in a letter to the UN Security Council and to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Khoshroo added that Iran expects all states to condemn such dangerous statements and policies and urge the US government to act responsibly and adhere to principles of the UN Charter and international law.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Tehran : Iran said on Saturday that it had successfully tested a new medium-range missile in defiance of warnings from the US that it was ready to ditch a landmark nuclear deal over the issue.
State-run Press TV broadcast a footage of the launch of the Khoramshahr missile, which was first displayed at a high-profile military parade on Friday with President Hassan Rouhani and senior military officials in attendance.
The ballistic missile is capable of carrying multiple warheads, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Division, told the media on Friday.
“The missile has become smaller in size (compared to other Iranian ballistic missiles) and more tactical, and it will be operational in the near future,” Hajizadeh said without further elaboration.
On Friday, the Iranian armed forces commemorated the 1980-1988 war with Iraq by holding a parade in which Iran’s most advanced military power and abilities were showcased.
Iran also displayed other home-made advanced missiles, including ballistic missiles, which are reported to have ranges of 1,300 km to 2,000 km.
The video also contained telemetry camera footage from four different angles which, according to its caption, showed the moment when the warhead of the missile was discharged.
The ballistic missile, which is Iran’s third type of missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers along with the Qadr-F and Sejjil ballistic missiles, is capable of carrying multiple warheads.
Iran has repeatedly insisted that its military capabilities are solely aimed for defense purposes and they pose no threat to other countries. Tehran has also been assisting its allies, including Iraq and Syria, in their ongoing fight against terrorism.
Washington has on several occasions slapped new sanctions against Iran over its missile programme.
The US claims that Iran’s missile tests and rocket launches violate UN Resolution 2231, which was adopted in July 2015 to endorse the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.
Iran has strongly rejected the US allegations that it has violated the UN resolution, and insists that its missile tests and rocket launches are solely for defense purposes and not designed to carry nuclear warheads.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Pyongyang : North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected a hydrogen bomb being loaded into a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) after the country claimed that it has succeeded in making a “more developed nuke”, state-media reported on Sunday.
Kim made the inspection during a visit to the country’s Nuclear Weapons Institute, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
However the agency did not disclose when the visit was made, reports CNN.
“The hydrogen bomb, the explosive power of which is adjustable from 10 kilotonne to hundreds kilotonne, is a multi-functional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power which can be detonated even at high altitudes for super-powerful EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack on strategic goals,” KCNA reported.
Electromagnetic pulse is an intense wave of electrical energy generated by the detonation of a nuclear weapon.
“Scientists further upgraded its technical performance at a higher ultra-modern level on the basis of precious successes made in the first hydrogen bomb test,” the agency added.
In January 2016, North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test, which Pyongyang claimed to be a successful trial of a hydrogen bomb, reports Yonhap News Agency.
North Korea has carried out five nuclear tests since 2006, including two last year.
Pyongyang boasted about its nuclear missile programme in Sunday’s report, saying it has the know-how and materials to make as many weapons as it wants.
“All components of the hydrogen bomb were 100 per cent homemade and all the processes ranging from the production of weapons-grade nuclear materials to precision processing of components and their assembling were indigenously developed, thus enabling the country to produce powerful nuclear weapons as many as it wants,” CNN quoted the KCNA report as saying.
The Kim Jong-un regime has also unveiled photos indicating that it may be developing a new submarine-launched, solid-fuel missile, called the Pukguksong-3 and a Hwasong-13 ICBM.
Sunday’s development comes amid heightened tensions after North Korea tested two ICBMs in July.
Analysts said the ICBM tests could put much of the US mainland within range, including Los Angeles and Chicago.
US President Donald Trump earlier warned North Korea of “fire and fury”. In response, Pyongyang threatened to fire a salvo of missiles into waters near the American territory of Guam though it held off on the plan later.
—IANS
