Iranian television, for security reasons, did not reveal the exact location of the underground base. However, journalists said they flew by helicopter for about 40 minutes from the city of Kermanshah in western Iran to reach it. The base is several hundred meters underground.
More than 100 drones
The Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, said that more than 100 combat, reconnaissance and attack aircraft are stored at this base in the heart of the Zagros Mountains for operations.
The drone stationed there is the “Kaman-22” – a machine equipped with missiles capable of traveling two thousand. kilometres. The recording also shows the Ababil 5 drone to be equipped with Qaem 9 missiles, an Iranian version of the US Hellfire air-to-surface munition.
“A secure strategic base”
The official IRNA news agency quoted Bagheri as describing the underground shelter as a “safe base for strategic drone operations.” – We never underestimate threats, we never assume that the enemy is asleep and we are always on the alert – he added.
Iran began developing drones in the 1980s, during the eight-year war with Iraq. The United States and Israel accuse Iran of sending fleets of drones to its clients in the Middle East, including the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Sanctions on the drone program
The US Treasury imposed sanctions on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ drone program in October last year. It accused the Revolutionary Guards of causing a drone attack on a Saudi oil refinery in September 2019, as well as a drone attack on a commercial ship off the coast of Oman in July 2021, killing two crew members.
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