September 12, 2006: The recent Iranian announcement that they had tested a submarine launched cruise missile was accompanied by videos of the actual test. However, comparing that video, to ones showing Chinese subs firing of a similar Chinese missile, indicates that the Iranians used the older Chinese video as their own. The Iranians have long been running a propaganda campaign about their military-industrial complex, and its ability to design and manufacture the most modern weapons. But the Iranians do not allow close examination of these wonder weapons, nor do they try to sell them abroad. This despite the fact that they export low tech weapons (knockoffs of older Russian and American designs), they make no effort to sell their more advanced stuff.
Despite the propaganda campaign, the Iranians are making progress in their weapons industry. By obtaining manufacturing technology from European and Asian countries, for non-military stuff (household appliances and automobiles), the Iranians have gradually increased their weapons manufacturing skills. Thus they can now copy and produce twenty year old weapon designs, and in the next decade, they will, if they keep it up, narrow the gap further. But it will be another generation before they come anywhere close to "state of the art." That's assuming poverty stricken Iranians continue to tolerate the expenditure of so much money on weapons.