Tehran:
Iran on Saturday began mass production of a new and advanced laser-guided anti-armour missile that can destroy a "variety of tanks", state-run Press TV reported.
"The Dehlavieh missile is one of the most advanced anti-armour missiles designed to destroy a variety of advanced tanks that are equipped with reactive armour," Defence Minister, Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said at a ceremony inaugurating the mass production line.
Vahidi said the missile's "specific guidance system" makes it particularly resistant against any sort of electronic warfare system. It can strike stationary as well as moving targets, he said.
"The warhead and launch engine of the missile, in addition to being mobile and shoulder-launchable, makes the Dehlavieh missile system a strategic battle hardware in anti-tank warfare," the minister said.
Dehlavieh is the name of a region in southern Khuzestan province where Mostafa Chamran, the defence minister after the 1979 revolution, was killed while personally guiding the military against invading Iraqi forces in the 1980s.