Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi announced plans to build new passenger planes, saying Iran will unveil a number of indigenous military and defense achievements next week.

“After making several types of military and non-military planes like ‘Saeqeh’ and ‘Iran 140,’ we are reviewing plans for manufacturing small passenger planes,” Vahidi told reporters on Monday, feb 27.

He went on to say that experts “have prepared the grounds for starting the project to manufacture planes with the passenger capacity of 50 to 100.”

“These defense achievements have been designed and produced by committed Iranian experts,” Vahidi said.

He added that Tehran’s policy is “to stand up to any threats by Israel and the West.”