The Iranian military has said it has developed an advanced drone that can strike major Israeli cities. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) named Arash-2 has been specifically designed to target Tel Aviv and Haifa, state-run media said, citing a top Iranian commander.
The Arash-2 drone is a newer version of the previously unveiled Arash-1 aircraft, they said. "The new drone enjoys unique specifications and capabilities, and can successfully retrieve information multiple times before it strikes and destroys the designated target," Brigadier General Heidari stated, according to Fars news. "The drone has been specifically designed to target Haifa and Tel Aviv," he added.
Arash-1, the precursor of Arash-2, was displayed in drone exercise in 2019 as a kamikaze and radar-evading UAV. The drone was 4.5-metre long, and had a wingspan of 3.5-4 metre, with a 1,400 km range.
Iran has also talked up its ability to 'destroy' if the Jewish nation or the US launched an attack against it. There has been highly sensitive ambivalence for years in strategic circles as to how Israel will respond as Tehran makes progress in its suspected nuclear weapons program.
Nuclear Talks Drag On
The Iranian belligerence came even as the talks on the defunct 2015 nuclear deal are dragging on. While the Biden administration said Iran was going backward in the nuclear deal talks, the UK, Germany and France also criticized the Tehran regime. Another report from the US said the deal talks will likely be on the back burner until after the US mid-term elections are over.
Meanwhile, Israel, which has always opposed the deal, has said even if the West reaches a deal with Tehran, the deal will not give Iran "immunity" from Israeli operations.
"We won't take part in this charade ... Even if a deal is signed, it will not provide immunity from Mossad operations ... We thwarted dozens of Iranian terror attacks... It is not the Islamic Republic of Iran, it is the terror republic of Iran," the head of Israel's spy agency Mossad, David Barnea, said.
"Once the nuclear deal is signed, there will be no restraint on Iranian terror," he said, according to Al Jazeera.
The nuclear deal was made by world powers the US, UK, Germany, France, Russia and China in 2015 with a stated aim of preventing the Islamic republic from building a nuclear bomb. However, Israel believes that the deal lacked the punch to stop Iran from making a nuclear weapon.
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Killing
Israel has long opposed the 2015 nuclear deal, saying it did not go far enough to halt Iran's nuclear programme and does not address what it sees as hostile Iranian military activity across the Middle East.
Iran's top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed in a daring attack in November 2020, shocking the establishment in Tehran. Israel was widely thought to be behind the assassination. As one of the corner stones of Iran's clandestine nuclear program, he was in the crosshairs of Israel. The assassination of Fakhrizadeh came a week after the global nuclear watchdog said Iran was making further strides in its nuclear program. Reports said Iran had started stockpiling low-enriched uranium and was enriching to a purity above the level permitted under the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with the world powers.
