Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Ground Force Brigadier General Kioumars Heidari announced that his forces have been equipped with the home-made state-of-the-art tanks named “Karrar” with features similar to the Russian T-90 tanks.

“Karrar tanks have been delivered to the combat units of the Ground Force,” General Heidari told reporters in Tehran on Sunday.

He also underlined plans to mount new, advanced and state-of-the-art systems on Karrar and Zolfaqar tanks, Fars News Agency (FNA) reported.

Asked about the Ground Force's achievements in building anti-armored systems, General Heidari said: “We have modern and state-of-the-art equipment which can be used in proxy wars.”

Iran announced last week that it has manufactured a new tank dubbed “Karrar” which is as deadly as the Russian T-90.

“The defense industry designed and built the new battle tank from scratch. If not better, it's still as deadly as the Russian T-90,” Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said in an interview with the state-run TV last Tuesday night.

He said “Karrar” stands among the most modern battle tanks in the world.

His remarks came after Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said Iran was no longer interested in buying T-90 battle tanks from Russia, and plans to supply its needs through domestic production.

“We were once interested in buying the Russian tanks. But since we can manufacture similar models within the country and we plan to do so in the near future, the deal is now off,” Pourdastan said last week.

According to him, Iran has enough capacity and technological know-how to produce new generation battle tanks and advanced military hardware, so it makes no sense to purchase them from elsewhere.