Iran threatens Israel, unveils 'longest-range drone in the world'

Iran presented what it claimed to be “the longest-range drone in the world” during a military parade that featured banners threatening Israel on Friday.

The drone was one of a number of unnamed aerial vehicles and missiles that Iranian forces displayed during an event in Tehran to mark the anniversary of the deadly Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, and came weeks after Iran unveiled a drone that it claimed could remain airborne for 24 hours.

Iran has exaggerated claims regarding its military capabilities in the past and there was no independent confirmation of the announcement about “the longest-range drone in the world," in any state media coverage of the parade.

Large signs declaring “Down with Israel” and “Down with USA, about be seen at Friday’s event, as well as posters in Hebrew and English warning Israelis to “prepare your shelters.”

“Our forces ensure security in the region and the Persian Gulf,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told the parade-goers, according to Reuters.

“We can teach the people of the region that resistance is today’s way. What forces the enemy to retreat is not submission and wavering, but resistance,” he added.

The display of drones and other military hardware came just days after the United States sanctioned several individuals and entities allegedly linked to Iran’s drone program.

Tehran has offered a series of contradictory explanations about the drones, first denying they supplied them to Moscow and then claiming they sold drones only before the war began.

The volume of drones used in the Russian-Ukraine conflict, however, shows a steady supply of bomb-carrying weapons from Iran being used in the war.