Iran unveils first unmanned aerial vehicle to deliver 'peace and friendship' - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has unveiled the country's first long distance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) named Karrar, meaning striker in Persian, which has a main message of peace and friendship but intends to deter aggression from enemies. "The unmanned aerial vehicle has a main message of peace and friendship but intends to deter aggression and keep the enemy paralysed in his bases," The Guardian quoted Ahmadinejad, as saying. Meanwhile, United States and Britain have said that the Bushehr plant, which is monitored by the UN's nuclear watchdog, poses no proliferation threat because Russia is supplying nuclear fuel and would reportedly remove spent fuel rods, minimising any risk that they could be used to make nuclear weapons. Iran is under UN sanctions to force a halt to uranium enrichment amid fears that it secretly plans to build nuclear weapons. However, Iran has denied having any such intention. Iran Defence Minister Ahmed Vahidi said Karrar has a range of up to 620 miles, which is not far enough to reach Israel . The drone is the latest item of military hardware to be inaugurated by Iran against a background of continuing tension over the nuclear issue.