Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said Wednesday that Iran has built a long-range anti-aircraft system, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Iran "has built a long-range anti-aircraft system capable of spotting, tracing, intercepting and destroying multiple targets simultaneously," Fars quoted him as saying on the sidelines of "Inventions and Innovations Exhibition" held in Tehran.

He pointed out that "all the materials and parts employed in the country's missile industries are Iranian."

Earlier this month, Iran's Secretary of the Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaie said that his country was the first power in the region from the viewpoint of defense and security matters.

Iran "has achieved its independence through its capabilities and it is among the 10 world major countries regarding security and defense issues," Rezaie, the former chief commander of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

Iran's successive pretensions for defensive gains, war shows and missile-development claims come amid the tensions over its defiance concerning the halt of its nuclear program.

The United States and Israel have consistently refused to rule out the possibility of military strikes against Iran over its refusal to halt its nuclear program.

The United States and its allies have accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program.

Iran has denied the U.S. charges and insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

(Xinhua News Agency February 12, 2009)