Iran boasts ‘longest-range’ drone at parade on Iraq war anniversary
Last month, the Islamic Republic said it had built an advanced drone named 'Mohajer-10' with an enhanced flight range and duration as well as a larger payload
Iran on Friday paraded its military hardware on the anniversary of its 1980s war with Iraq, including “the longest-range drone in the world” along with ballistic and hypersonic missiles.
Iranian state media said the drone “was unveiled” in the parade and that the drones displayed were named “Mohajer,” “Shahed,” and “Arash.”
Last month, the Islamic Republic said it had built an advanced drone named “Mohajer-10” with an enhanced flight range and duration as well as a larger payload. It has an operational range of 1,240 miles and can fly for up to 24 hours, state media reported then, adding that its payload could reach 661 pounds – double the capacity of the “Mohajer-6” drone.
The United States has accused Iran of providing drones to Russia for its war against Ukraine. Earlier this week, Washington expanded Iran-related sanctions, citing Tehran's "continued, deliberate proliferation of UAVs enabling Russia, its proxies in the Middle East, and other destabilizing actors.”
Iran denies providing drones to Russia for the conflict in Ukraine.
“Our forces ensure security in the region and the Persian Gulf,” Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said at the parade in Tehran. “We can teach the people of the region that resistance is today’s way. What forces the enemy to retreat is not submission and wavering, but resistance.”
A video released last month by Iranian media showed the “Mohajer-6” among other military hardware, with a text reading "prepare your shelters" in both Persian and Hebrew, the latter an allusion to Iran's arch-regional enemy, Israel.
The Iran-Iraq war erupted in 1980 when the forces of then-Iraqi president Saddam Hussein invaded Iran. The conflict, which was economically devastating and left at least half a million dead, ended in a stalemate in 1988.