Following are excerpts from an interview with former Iranian defense minister Admiral Ali Shamkhani, which aired on Channel 2, Iranian TV on March 21, 2006:

Interviewer: [Some say] the Iranians bought a few missiles from North Korea and Russia, and changed their name to "Shahab."

[...]

They sit there, thinking that we took some scraps of tin, stuck them together, and called them... I even remember them saying that the missile misses the target by 150 km. Please address this issue.

Admiral Ali Shamkhani: Shahab 3, the improvement of Shahab 3, and the strengthening of its power of destruction, its range, and its accuracy - all these were achieved by Iran, as I mentioned earlier, not in terms of quality, but in terms of quantity, and in terms of the capability for local production. We can produce missiles like we produce cars.

Footage of testing of Shahab 3, with the following text:

"Successful test of the Shahab 3 missile"

Admiral Ali Shamkhani: If we were dependent on others in this industry, the world would have nothing to worry about. The lines transporting supplies for the missiles can be blocked. Fine, let them block them. We don't have any problem with that. Besides, whoever depends on others for purchasing supplies cannot grow in terms of quantity.

Today, we have the capability to make missiles like candy. This capability is 100 times greater than we had even in the early days of the [Iran-Iraq] war, when we used 60 mm mortars by the Khorramshahr Bridge. Do you know what a 60 mm mortar is?

Interviewer: Yes, sir.

Admiral Ali Shamkhani: Do you know what an RPG-7 is?

Interviewer: Yes.

Admiral Ali Shamkhani: These are very convenient weapons, right?

Interviewer: Yes.

Admiral Ali Shamkhani: Today, we... In those days, by the Khorramshahr Bridge, we fought the Iraqi regime. Back then, our problem was that we didn't have enough RPGs.

Interviewer: I remember this very well.

Admiral Ali Shamkhani: Bravo! Good for you.

Interviewer: I remember that well.

Admiral Ali Shamkhani: Today, we have no limitation on the quantities of the Shahab 3. Could these capabilities rely on non-Iranian technology?