TEHRAN – Iran is standing on the verge of fully self-reliant production of airplane and helicopter engines, says the country’s chief of General Staff of Armed Forces.

Speaking at the Defense Ministry’s Aviation Industries Organization on Saturday, General Mohammad Baqeri praised the defense industries for helping other industrial sectors that are grounded by sanctions.

“Recently our dear defense minister and other commanders have stated readiness to solve problems existing in other industries, a late example of which was the sensitive field of auto parts, where the Defense Ministry took the initiative and resolved a great deal of the problem and now it is ready to enhance the production,” the commander explained.

“It would be impossible to create deterrence and defense power in a world where they have shut all the doors to us with sanctions but through localization and reliance on our own young scientists (we can),” he noted.

“Before the revolution we were the sort of country which would import most of their industrial products in the military as well as non-military sectors,” Baqeri said, adding that despite sanctions and foreign pressure, the country is now facing a totally different horizon which promises success in meeting its own needs with self-reliance.

SP/PA