TEHRAN: Iran unveiled a new ballistic missile and an upgraded unmanned one-way attack drone at a military parade on Saturday, state media reported, amid rising regional tensions and accusations of arming Russia.
Western governments accuse Iran of supplying drones and missiles to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine, a charge the country has repeatedly denied.
The solid-fuel missile, dubbed “Jihad,” was designed and manufactured by the aerospace arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and has an operational range of 1,000 kilometers (more than 600 miles), the state news agency reported. IRNA saying.
The Shahed-136B drone is an upgraded version of the Shahed-136, with new features and an operational range of more than 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles), it added.
New President Masoud Pezeshkian attended the annual parade in Tehran, commemorating the 1980-88 war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
“Today, our defensive and deterrent capabilities have grown to such an extent that no demon even thinks of attacking our beloved Iran,” he said.
“With unity and cohesion among Islamic countries […] We can put in its place the bloodthirsty and genocidal usurper Israel, which shows no mercy to anyone, neither women nor children, neither old nor young.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivered a similar tirade against Israel to delegates at an annual gathering of Muslim clerics hosted by Iran, calling on Islamic countries to “completely cut off economic relations” with Israel and “weaken political ties.”
“This inner force can remove the Zionist regime, this malignant cancerous tumor, from the heart of the Islamic community in Palestine and free itself from American domination and coercive interference in the region,” he said.
Tensions in the Middle East have soared since the Palestinian resistance and freedom-fighting group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, sparking the occupation's offensive in Gaza and drawing in Iranian allies in the region.
Tensions have escalated in recent days as the focus of Israel's firepower has shifted north to the border with Lebanon, where its troops have been battling Hezbollah.
An Israeli airstrike on Hezbollah's Beirut stronghold on Friday killed 37 people, including two of its top commanders, Lebanese authorities said, shortly after deadly sabotage attacks on the group's communications earlier this week.
Britain, France, Germany and the United States imposed new sanctions on Iran earlier this month, alleging it had been providing ballistic missiles for Russia's war effort in Ukraine.
