Iran has drones that can travel over 7,000 km, says Revolutionary Guards commander

The chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Sunday warned that the Islamic republic has developed unmanned explosive-laden aerial drones with a range of 7,000 km (4,375 miles). In a televised statement to the state news agency IRNA, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard  (IRGC) chief Hossein Salami said, “We have unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) with a long-range of 7,000 kilometers. They can fly, return home, and land wherever they are planned to.” 

Salami’s remarks come just two months after the Iran-backed Iraqi militias carried out the drone attacks at an alleged secret CIA hangar in the Iraqi Kurdistan’s capital city Erbil’s airport alarming the United States. Iran has been supplying its proxies in the Middle East such as the Houthis in Yemen with UCAV drones such as the Qasef-1 loitering munitions with a striking resemblance to Iranian Ababil-II. 

Separately last week, bomb-laden drones attacked US military forces at what the Iranian-backed group term as ‘Victory Base’ near Baghdad International Airport, which the officials suspected was carried out by the as pro-Iranian factions. Even as the base had shut down after the US-led coalition military’s Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) that toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, hundreds of US and coalition troops are deployed at the US Department of State-operated Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center (BDSC).

The Iranian telegram channel Sabereen News flashed reports that at least two fixed-wing combat drones laden with explosives targeted the US forces at Ain al-Asad Airbase in Iraq, adding that the C-RAM, as well as AN/TWQ-1 Avenger missile systems deployed at the base, were not able to intercept the drones. 

[Gaza drone is displayed in an undisclosed location in Iran. Sepahnews via AP]

The United States and Israel, earlier last month held talks on the unmanned Iranian drones and precision-guided missiles supplied by Iran to the Shiite militias and terrorist organizations in the region. Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and Israel’s ambassador Gilad Erdan met with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and other top officials in Washington to “express strong concerns” about Iran, and to convince Washington to draft a new improved deal rather than negotiate on the P5+1+EU and Iran 2015 drafted Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)to deter Iran from nuclear stockpiling. 

The high profile meeting was convened by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan, members of the White House National Security Council (NSC), Brett McGurk,  and Counsellor of the United States Department of State Derek Chollet, as well as the Israeli diplomats Gilad Menashe Erdan. Israel’s intelligence minister, Eli Cohen, sounded an alarm about Iran’s show military strength as he stated in the press that the Israeli fighter jets “can reach everywhere in the Middle East — and certainly Iran,” adding that Iran neither has immunity anywhere.

[Gen. Hossein Salami and Iranian Guard’s aerospace division commander Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh. Credit: AP]

US retaliates Iran backed militia's 'drone attacks' with airstrikes

Meanwhile, in retaliation to the Iranian drone attacks by Iran-backed militia on the US armed forces and facilities in Iraq, the United States conducted air raids against Iranian-backed factions in Iraq and Syria on June 27. In a statement released Sunday, the US military said that it targeted operational and weapons storage facilities in at least two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq. Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a release that as many as five Iran-backed Iraqi militia fighters were among the casualties, and several others were wounded. Syria’s state-run SANA news agency meanwhile reported a child injured. Condemning the increasing drone attacks by the Iran-backed militia on US forces in Iraq, Pentagon said in a statement, “As demonstrated by this evening’s strikes, President Biden has been clear that he will act to protect US personnel.”