Iranian military shows off new ‘suicide’ drones in Tehran parade

Iran‘s military forces showcased a line of new weaponry, displaying a new generation of Iran-made “suicide drones” in a major Tehran parade Monday, even as talks with the U.S. and other powers over Iran‘s nuclear programs hang in the balance.

The National Army Day parade, witnessed by President Ebrahim Raisi and other dignitaries in the Iranian capital, is likely to provide more fodder for critics of the 2015 nuclear accord negotiated by the Obama administration, who have long complained the deal did nothing to restrain Iran‘s ballistic missile program or its expanding conventional weapons arsenal.

Iran‘s state-controlled Tasnim News Agency reported Monday that the highlight of the parade was the unveiling of three new Ababil-5 “suicide” drones, which can carry missiles with “improved aerodynamic efficiency and reduced radar cross-section.”

U.S. Central Command charged that a bomb delivered by an Iranian-made drone was responsible for the fatal strike on the oil tanker Mercer Street off the coast of Oman last July 30, and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched a string of damaging strikes with Iranian-design drones on oil facilities and other targets in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Also on display in Tehran Monday was a new version of the Dezful air defense system, an Iranian-made variant of Russia’s Tor-M1, according to the Tasnim account. The mobile system is being used by both Iran‘s army and the separate Islamic Republican Guard Corps (IRGC), which the U.S. has officially designated a terrorist organization.

Monday’s display also featured armored personnel carriers, unmanned surveillance aircraft and small submarines, the Reuters news service reported.

“Our strategy is defense and not offense,” Mr. Raisi said in a televised address Monday, but he also had some harsh words for Israel while noting the expanded range of Iran‘s missiles.

“The Zionist regime, you should know that … if you take the slightest move against our nation, our armed forces will target the heart of the Zionist regime,” the hard-line president said.

The nuclear talks in Vienna, in which U.S. and Iranian diplomats are communicating only through intermediaries, have stalled in part over Iran‘s demand that the terror label for the IRGC be lifted.

The 2015 deal imposed new limits and monitoring on Iran‘s suspect nuclear programs in exchange for the lifting of harsh U.S. and international sanctions. Iran has been steadily exceeding the limits set in the deal in response to President Trump’s decision to repudiate the accord three years later and re-impose economic and financial sanctions.