Iran’s shows off ballistic missiles, drones in drill amid US tensions
The military exercise in Iran's central desert comes as the Trump administration makes a final push to punish Tehran.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Friday fired a “barrage” of surface-to-surface ballistic missiles and launched new bomb-carrying drones in a military drill held in the country’s central desert of Iran, state media reported.
“A combined attack was carried out on a hypothetical enemy base and the destruction of all predetermined targets using a new generation of surface-to-surface ballistic missiles and drones,” Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said.
The aircraft used in the drill “strongly resembled” the so-called Delta drones used in a 2019 attack on two major Saudi oil facilities, according to The Associated Press. Tehran denied any involvement in the attack, and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels took credit.
The show of force, which was attended by IRGC Commander-in-Chief Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami and IRGC aerospace Commander Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, comes days after Iran announced plans to resume patrols in the Red Sea and tested short-range naval missiles as part of a two-day drill in the Gulf of Oman.
