TEHRAN - Brigadier-General Aziz Nasirzadeh, the commander of the Air Force, says Iran is able to build jet engines.

Some universities in Iran ask the Air Force to build a piece of jet engine “while today some of our university workshops can build different generations of jet engines,” he explained.

He added, “One of our demands is that education officials increase the hours of workshop training. Our universities provide basic training, and we will use capable officers who will increase our military and national strength in accordance with our training programs as in the past.”

He also said, “The country’s Air Force has operational dominance over the region.” 

“The Islamic Republic's Air Force’s power has been proven in the region so that no air force, whether fighter or otherwise, has the right to cross the country's airspace without Iran’s permission and coordination,” Nasirzadeh remarked, according to the IRNA news agency. 

By reinforcing the Air Force, political will and pressure can be imposed on enemies internationally, he stressed.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Air Force chief said, “Regional states make a major strategic mistake by not relying on themselves and resorting to foreign pilots and equipment provided by foreign military advisers.”

He added, “Not only they will not become self-sufficient, but in the long-run foreign forces will not have the incentive to fight and defend their country.”