Defense Minister Nominee's 16-Point Plan in Parliament: We Are Seriously Pursuing Stronger Air Defense; From Day One, I Will Follow Up on the Economic Health of the Ministry of Defense

The nominee for Defense Minister, pointing to key points of the proposed programs, said: My priorities for running the Ministry of Defense are set out in a 16-item plan, one of which is the restructuring and reinvention of the future Ministry of Defense.

According to the report of Ambassador Arjan Mehrdad Akhlik, the proposed Minister of Defense and Support of the Armed Forces, in the morning session of the Parliament (Monday, October 20th), while honoring the memory of the martyred leader and other martyrs, in explaining his records, actions and performance in the past years, he said: "I was never interested in taking responsibility during my service, and in the proposed responsibility that was communicated to me and assigned to me, I will take it on and do it with all my strength, if recognized and approved by the members of the Parliament."

According to Ambassador Arjan's account, he added: "In order to make sure that I have the ability to carry out this mission, I visited the military commanders in the last two weeks and wrote down their expectations, and I came to the conclusion that with God's grace and trust, it is possible to carry out these missions in the Ministry of Defense and I can also take on a part of this responsibility in this ministry."

Akhli stated: Obviously, one person cannot do anything alone, but if he leads a revolutionary and jihadist group and has experience in this direction, he will most likely achieve his goals.

The proposed 16-point program of the Minister of Defense

Referring to the important points of the proposed plans, the proposed Minister of Defense said: My priorities for the administration of the Ministry of Defense in the proposed plan are 16 items, one of which is the reconstruction and regeneration of the future Ministry of Defense.

Ekhli clarified: The reconstruction of industrial production infrastructures with the observance of passive defense is one of the other things included in the programs, on the other hand, today we are only looking for new products that have the ability to produce and new technology within six months at most. Therefore, the connection of novel and emerging technology in line with leap innovation in defense systems is one of our most important goals in the 22 months remaining until the end of the government.

He mentioned improving productivity as another priority for the administration of this ministry and added: We must try to make the best use of what we have and have the highest productivity, and we will pursue this in the short term. Also, the development of diplomacy and international defense law in interaction with the General Staff of the Armed Forces is one of the other plans we have.

Paying attention to the livelihood, housing and treatment of retirees and employees of the armed forces is particularly important

The proposed Minister of Defense added: Along with all these measures, paying attention to the livelihood, housing and treatment of retirees and employees of the armed forces is also of particular importance, and in terms of importance, it is equal to the other axes of the program. We will pursue effective and purposeful interaction with the parliament and the armed forces, as well as the use of productive lands and properties of the armed forces to achieve these goals.

Emphasizing the need to increase productivity and effectively monitor the performance of managers, he said: Increasing productivity is definitely what we want. Effective performance monitoring has been and is still in place, but will be pursued more rigorously.

Referring to the necessity of using the capacity of the lands at the disposal of the armed forces, Ekhli said: I believe that this capacity should be used; In my opinion, even more important than the missile range is the anti-arrogance spirit of the people; A part of these people whose presence is very prominent are the armed forces.

Referring to the priority of building housing for armed forces employees, the proposed minister of defense said: One of my work priorities as the minister of defense is to pursue the construction of housing for the armed forces. This year, in the program of the armed forces, the issue of handing over 100,000 residential units has been raised.

We are seriously pursuing the strengthening of air defense

Referring to the country's air defense situation, he said: We are seriously pursuing the issue of air defense strengthening through the General Staff of the Armed Forces and tracking the allocation of budgets, and we hope that more attention will be paid to this area in this period.

Akhli emphasized: The economic health of the Ministry of Defense is another important issue raised by the representatives, and I followed this issue seriously in the methods I had in my years of service, and I will definitely address this issue on the first day of my work.

Referring to the question of the representatives about his vision regarding the war, the proposed defense minister said: "It is certain that we do not have a vision other than what our martyr Imam had and what the supreme leader of the revolution has today, and we follow it without any deficiency and we are the executors of the orders of the supreme leader and the honorable commander of the general forces."

Regarding the research and innovation that the representatives emphasized, he said: We will definitely be dynamic in research and innovation and we will use the capacity of universities and knowledge-based companies, and we believe that in order to reach weapons and technology, we must move on a path that can increase resilience against the enemy.

Sanctions have not hindered defense production and support

Referring to the country's long-term sanctions, he said: Iran has been under sanctions for 47 years, but have these sanctions reduced the resilience of the Iranian nation to zero? We have produced equipment and provided missile support even under the conditions of sanctions, and we do not face any particular problem in carrying out the duties of the armed forces.

The proposed defense minister reminded: We have followed the supply of equipment needed by the armed forces to fight the enemy with every method and plan and we will continue this way.

Real-time monitoring of threats and updating of defense equipment

He said about monitoring threats and updating the country's defense power: The enemy continuously uses different methods to strengthen its power and attack the country, and we also monitor these developments in real time and update the equipment of the armed forces in accordance with the methods and tools used by the enemy.

In the end, the proposed Minister of Defense emphasized the necessity of the participation of the private and national sectors in the defense industry and said: The participation of the private sector has been in the goals of the Ministry of Defense since the past years, but its necessity has increased today.

Referring to the necessity of updating the country's defense capability, Ehlik emphasized on continuing efforts to supply the equipment needed by the armed forces and to strengthen production capacities and defense support.