TEHRAN -- Iran’s acting 
defense minister said on Monday that the country’s indigenous defense capabilities withstood recent wars involving advanced military technology, stating that sanctions and wartime pressure have accelerated Iran’s development of domestic defense systems.
Speaking at a joint meeting between the Defense Ministry and members of the Iranian Parliament’s Education, Research and Technology Commission, Brigadier General Majid Ebn-e-Reza said the wars showed that Iran’s long-term investment in domestic scientific and technological capabilities had strengthened its defense sector.
“The Ministry of Defense’s strategy is founded on relying on domestic knowledge, the capabilities of the country’s talents, and the continuous development of defense technologies—a strategy that clearly proved its effectiveness during the recent war,” he said.
Referring to a recent message by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, Ebn-e-Reza said recent events have exposed “the enemy’s lack of credibility and the worthlessness of U.S. commitments.”
“This discrediting and exposure were achieved through the presence and perseverance of the people, Iranian ingenuity and indigenous technology,” he said.
The acting minister said Iranian scientists confronted the world’s most advanced military technologies during the recent conflicts, despite sanctions and restrictions.
He said Iran’s defense infrastructure
 has been established through years of planning and the work of young specialists and knowledge-based companies, enabling damaged capabilities to be restored in a short period.
According to Ebn-e-Reza, technological and tactical “surprises” introduced during the war caught Iran’s adversaries off guard and turned the war into “an opportunity for a leap in defense technologies.”
Describing the fighting as “a war of intellects, talents, engineers and technologists,” he said production of missiles, drones and other military equipment continued uninterrupted throughout the conflict and, “in some areas, increased severalfold.”
He added that Iran’s scientific and technological ecosystem will ensure the country “never feels the impact of sanctions or shortages,” describing domestic innovation as the driving force behind future defense development.
Separately, Second Brigadier General Muhammad Sadeghian, deputy coordinator of the Iranian Army Air Defense Force, said damaged indigenous air defense systems were repaired and replaced from the first day of the conflict rather than after it ended.
“The issue was not only addressed after the war, but was on the agenda from the very first day of the conflict,” Sadeghian told Defa Press. “As soon as a system was damaged, it was overhauled and replaced in the shortest possible time.”
He rejected enemy claims that Iran’s air defense network had been destroyed, saying the force successfully carried out its missions during the recent wars despite the scale of attacks launched by the United States and Israel.
Sadeghian said Iran’s domestically produced air defense systems have demonstrated their effectiveness and remained fully operational after the ceasefire.
He added that Iranian air defense units remain capable of intercepting “any hostile aircraft” approaching the country’s airspace or territorial waters, including the Strait of Hormuz, saying the continued operational readiness of the network show that damaged equipment has been fully replaced.