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Iranian Defense Minister: Priority Is to Boost Missile Program
(AFP-Al-Arabiya) Iran's new defense minister, Gen. Amir Hatami, said Saturday the priority was to boost the country's missile program and export weapons to shore up neighboring allies, in a speech carried by the ISNA news agency. "God willing, the combat capabilities of Iran's ballistic and cruise missiles will increase in this term," he added. Hatami is the first defense minister to be selected from the regular army, rather than the Revolutionary Guards, in more than two decades. Analysts say this reflects an increasing convergence between the army and the Guards as Iran increases its involvement in regional conflicts such as in Syria and Iraq, which have been the Guard's exclusive purview since the 1979 Islamic revolution.