TEHRAN: Iran unveiled a new ballistic missile and an upgraded one-way attack drone at a military parade on Saturday, state media said, amid soaring regional tensions and allegations of arming Russia. Iran stands accused by Western governments of supplying both drones and missiles to Russia for use in its war with Ukraine, a charge it has repeatedly denied. The solid-fuel Jihad missile was designed and manufactured by the aerospace arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and has an operational range of 1,000 kilometers, state news agency IRNA said.
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, 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 so much that no demon even thinks about any aggression towards our dear Iran,” he said.
"With unity and cohesion among Islamic countries... we can put in its place the bloodthirsty, genocidal usurper Zionist entity, which shows no mercy to anyone, women or children, old or young.” Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivered a similar tirade against Zionists to delegates to an annual meeting of Muslim clerics hosted by Iran, calling on Islamic countries to "completely cut off their economic relations” with Zionists and "weaken political ties.”
"This inner strength can eliminate the Zionist regime, this malignant cancerous tumor, from the heart of the Islamic community in Palestine and get rid of US domination and coercive interference in the region,” he said. Middle East tensions have soared since October 7 attack which sparked war in Gaza - drawing in Iranian allies around the region. The tensions have intensified in recent days as the focus of Zionist firepower has shifted north to the Lebanon border where its troops have been battling Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
Zionist airstrike on Hezbollah’s Beirut stronghold on Friday killed 31 people, including two of its top commanders, Lebanese authorities said, hot on the heels of deadly sabotage attacks on the group’s communications earlier this week. Britain, France, Germany and the United States slapped new sanctions on Iran earlier this month, alleging that it had been providing ballistic missiles for Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.- AFP