Iran's Army Ground Force Plans Deployment of New Missile Types

An Iranian missile being transported in Syria. (The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
An Iranian missile being transported in Syria. (The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
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Iran's Army Ground Force Plans Deployment of New Missile Types

An Iranian missile being transported in Syria. (The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
An Iranian missile being transported in Syria. (The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)

Iranian Army Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Kiumars Heidari announced on Saturday the completion of development for two new types of missiles, with mass production set to commence soon.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces has approved these missiles, to be unveiled shortly, and “substantial quantities” are being prepared for production, stated Heidari.

While the ground forces are not planning extensive maneuvers in the upcoming months, Heidari mentioned deploying missile units along the border to enhance readiness. This move, he clarified, is not in response to a specific threat but aims to maintain preparedness, intelligence dominance, and familiarity with the country's border geography.

Heidari revealed that 11 mobile and combat brigades have been stationed at the borders.

“By spring, the army's ground forces plan to carry out limited maneuvers,” he said, detailing the new deployment structure consisting of ten units on the borders, five drone platoons, and five missile units.

Discussing the “successful” maneuver conducted in October as part of the Eghtedar 1402 military exercise, Heidari highlighted the participation of infantry regiments, armored divisions, missile and artillery units, the Ground Force airborne division, drone units, electronic warfare units, and support teams from the Air Force.

According to a report from Mehr News Agency, the maneuvers focused on "addressing threats and anticipating changes in the combat organization of the army’s ground forces."

Revenge to ‘Kerman’

In another context, Heidari pledged to avenge the Jan. 3 terrorist bombings in the southeastern city of Kerman and that the enemies “would face punishment for their heinous actions.”

The twin bombings in Kerman have killed 91 people and injured around 300 others.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the two explosions in the crowd that gathered at a memorial for al-Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US airstrike in Baghdad in early 2020.

Iran's Ministry of Intelligence said later on it identified the mastermind behind the bombings at a cemetery in Kerman, also announcing the arrest of 35 individuals suspected of involvement in the attacks.

Communications intercepts collected by the United States confirmed that ISIS Afghanistan-based branch carried out the twin bombings in Iran, two sources familiar with the intelligence told Reuters.

"The intelligence is clear-cut and indisputable," one source said.



Pro-Palestinian Protest Leader Details 104 Days Spent in US Custody

Former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil (L) spent 104 days in federal detention after being targeted by the Trump administration for deportation. kena betancur / AFP
Former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil (L) spent 104 days in federal detention after being targeted by the Trump administration for deportation. kena betancur / AFP
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Pro-Palestinian Protest Leader Details 104 Days Spent in US Custody

Former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil (L) spent 104 days in federal detention after being targeted by the Trump administration for deportation. kena betancur / AFP
Former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil (L) spent 104 days in federal detention after being targeted by the Trump administration for deportation. kena betancur / AFP

Mahmoud Khalil, one of the most prominent leaders of pro-Palestinian protests on US campuses, recounted his experience surviving 104 days in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention after being targeted for deportation by the Trump administration.

"I shared a dorm with over 70 men, absolutely no privacy, lights on all the time," the 30-year-old said Sunday on the steps of Columbia University, where he was a graduate student, AFP reported.

Khalil, a legal permanent resident in the United States who is married to an American citizen and has a US-born son, had been in custody since March facing potential removal proceedings.

He was freed from a federal immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana on Friday, hours after a judge ordered his release on bail.

The activist was a figurehead of student protests at Columbia University against US ally Israel's war in Gaza, and the administration of Donald Trump labeled him a national security threat.

"It's so normal in detention to see men cry," Khalil recalled, deeming the situation "horrendous" and "a stain on the US Constitution."

"I spent my days listening to one tragic story after another: listening to a father of four whose wife is battling cancer, and he's in detention," Khalil detailed in his first protest appearance since regaining his freedom.

"I listened to a story of an individual who has been in the United States for over 20 years, all his children are American, yet he's deported."

The circumstances of the detention were tough, Khalil described, and he took solace where he could find it to gain the strength to carry on.

'We will win'

"It is often hard to find patience in ICE detention," Khalil said.

"The center is crowded with hundreds of people who are told that their existence is illegal, and not one of us knows when we can go free.

"At those moments, it was remembering a specific chant that gave me strength : 'I believe that we will win,'" he continued, to cheers from the audience.

Khalil said he even scratched the phrase into his detention center bunk bed as a reminder, being the last thing he saw when he went to sleep and the first thing he read waking up in the morning.

He repeats it even now, "knowing that I have won in a small way by being free today."

Khalil took specific aim at the site of his speech, Columbia University, chastising the institution for saying "that they want to protect their international students, while over 100 (days) later, I haven't received a single call from this university."

Khalil's wife Noor Abdalla, who gave birth to their son while her husband was held by ICE, said his "voice is stronger now than it has ever been."

"One day our son will know that his father did not bow to fear. He will know that his father stood up when it was hardest, and that the world stood with him," Abdalla said.