Recent claims to be made by Iran’s military is that it has drones which are far more advanced than the unmanned aircraft Hezbollah launched into Israeli airspace earlier this month.
Iranian Defense Minister, Ahmad Vahidi, said the Hezbollah drone which penetrated the Israeli airspace for about 55 kilometers before being shot down did not use his country’s latest technological capabilities. Iran’s military regularly announces defense and engineering developments though some analysts are doubtful of the reliability of such reports.
The minister said flying the drone into Israel shows that Iran’s military capabilities have advanced. In April, Iran announced it had started to build a copy of a US surveillance drone, the RQ-170 Sentinel, which was captured last year after it came down near the Afghan border.
Hezbollah said the drone it used was made in Iran but assembled in Lebanon. Hezbollah’s claim of responsibility has led to criticisms directed towards Tehran of instigating a war on a foreign land. Israel responded by moving heavy artilleries towards its border with Beirut.
Tensions in the region have simmered over Iran’s disputed nuclear program and Israeli has threatened to bomb its nuclear sites if diplomacy and sanctions fail to stop Iranian nuclear activity. European countries and the U.S.A suspect that it is meant to develop some nuclear weapons capabilities. Tehran maintains that it is for peaceful purposes.
In a recent speech at a ceremony to honor Iran’s naval forces, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned that Iran “has never been an aggressor nation, but history has shown that it is a very good defender.” He said that Persian Gulf’s security “has only been undermined when outsiders have been present there,” and boasted that his country “always been a protector of the security of the Persian Gulf.”
Iran: drone technological capabilities updated
