Tehran unveils new ‘Tiam’ main battle tank
Iran unveiled one of its newest tanks in a ceremony attended by the commander of the Iranian army's ground forces, Brig. Gen. Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, the country's Tasnim news agency reported Tuesday. The domestically-produced "Tiam" is a hybrid with the hull of a US Patton, which was in operational use in the 1960s and 1970s, and the turret of a Chinese Type 69 tank with a 105-mm cannon, a 7.62-mm light machine gun and a 12.7-mm heavy machine gun. Parts of the turret and the body have reactive armor for protection against antitank weapons. Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said in February that his army also has a much more advanced tank, the Karrar, which he claimed was designed and built entirely in Iran and is even superior to the Russian T-90.