TEHRAN, Aug. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said Saturday that Iran has achieved an "effective deterrent power" to confront its enemies in the region, the official IRNA news agency reported.

    "Today by relying on our defense industry capabilities, we have been able to increase our deterrent capacity against the military expansion of regional enemies," Shamkhani was quoted as saying.

    "The Defense Ministry has put its capabilities in the ground, air, sea and missile domains in the three categories of fire, maneuver and precision into a race with its foreign rivals," Shamkhani added.

    Iran said earlier this month it carried out a successful test firing of an upgraded version of its Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile.

    Military experts said the missile is capable of striking Israel or any other enemy target in the region.

    Tensions between Iran and Israel as well as the United States have been accelerated recently.

    The United States and Israel, accusing Iran of developing nuclear weapons secretly, threatened to launch a surprising attack upon Iran's atomic power plant in Bushehr.

    On Aug. 18, Brigadier General Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, deputy commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, warned that Iran would strike Israel's nuclear reactor at Dimona if Israel's threat were materialized.  Enditem