Iran Shows Long-Range Drones at Russian Event, State News Reports

Iranians walk near huge Iranian and Palestinian flags hanging on a wall at the Eneghelab square in Tehran, Iran, 12 August 2024. (EPA)
Iranians walk near huge Iranian and Palestinian flags hanging on a wall at the Eneghelab square in Tehran, Iran, 12 August 2024. (EPA)
TT

Iran Shows Long-Range Drones at Russian Event, State News Reports

Iranians walk near huge Iranian and Palestinian flags hanging on a wall at the Eneghelab square in Tehran, Iran, 12 August 2024. (EPA)
Iranians walk near huge Iranian and Palestinian flags hanging on a wall at the Eneghelab square in Tehran, Iran, 12 August 2024. (EPA)

Iran had put its long-range Mohajer-10 drones on show at a defense exhibit in Russia, Iran's official news agency reported on Monday.

US officials have accused Iran of sending drones to Russia - including Mohajer-10's predecessor, the Mohajer-6 - that Moscow had used in its invasion of Ukraine. Tehran denies this.

IRNA said the more advanced system was on display at the Army 2024 International Military-Technical Forum, an event which runs from Monday to Wednesday in Patriot Park outside Russia's capital.

The report comes as the Middle East braces for Iran's threatened retaliation against Israel after the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.

Iran released details of the Mohajer-10 system in August last year, saying it had an enhanced flight range, duration and could carry a greater payload.

A video accompanying that report showed the drone alongside other military hardware, with text saying "prepare your shelters" in both Hebrew and Persian.

According to Iranian media reports, the drone has an operational range of 2,000 km (1,240 miles) and can fly for up to 24 hours. Its payload can reach 300 kg (661 pounds), double the capacity of the Mohajer-6, the reports have added.



What Cargo Ships are Passing Hormuz Strait?

Commercial vessels offshore in Dubai last week © - / AFP/File
Commercial vessels offshore in Dubai last week © - / AFP/File
TT

What Cargo Ships are Passing Hormuz Strait?

Commercial vessels offshore in Dubai last week © - / AFP/File
Commercial vessels offshore in Dubai last week © - / AFP/File

Just a trickle of cargo ships and tankers -- most of them Iranian -- have made it through the Strait of Hormuz since Iranian forces blocked the crucial trade route in the Middle East war.

Here are facts and figures about vessels that have passed through the 167-kilometre (104-mile) long strait since the war broke out with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, according to AFP.

- 95% shipping drop -

From March 1 to 19, commodities carriers made just 114 crossings, according to analytics firm Kpler -- a decrease of 95 percent from peacetime.

Of these, 69 crossings were by oil tankers and more than half were loaded, Kpler data showed, with most travelling east out of the strait.

Traffic "is being led mostly by bulk carriers, tankers and container ships," said Richard Meade, editor of leading shipping intelligence journal Lloyd's List, in a briefing on Thursday.

"But we have seen a bit of an uptick in gas carriers moving over the last week."

- Iranian, Greek, Chinese ships -

Most of the ships passing the strait are owned or flagged in Iran, said Bridget Diakun, an analyst at data company Lloyd's List Intelligence.

After that, Greek ships accounted for 18 percent of crossings and Chinese ones 10 percent in recent days, she said.

"Although Iran is continuing to control the Strait and exit its own oil, everything else is largely still at a standstill," said Meade.

- 35 sanctioned ships -

Overall since the war started, around a third of the ships transiting the strait were under US, EU or UK sanctions, according to an AFP analysis of passage data.

Of the oil and gas tankers, more than half were under sanctions.

Since March 16 "anything heading westbound has been shadow fleet, gas carriers or tankers... they absolutely dominate the traffic going through," Diakun told the Lloyds briefing.

- Oil to China -

Commodities analysts at JPMorgan bank said in a report released Monday that most of the oil passing through the strait was headed for Asia, principally China.

Data in the report indicated it was receiving more than a million barrels day from Hormuz -- far below the pre-war level of nearly five million.

Cichen Shen, Asia Pacific editor at Lloyd's List, said there were indications online that Chinese authorities were working on "some sort of exit plan" for their big tankers stuck in the region.

- 1.3 mn barrels of Iran oil -

The JPMorgan analysts said overall 98 percent of the observable oil traffic through the strait was Iranian, averaging 1.3 million barrels a day "in early March".

A fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the strait in peacetime.

- Indian, Pakistani ships -

"There are indications that some ships are transiting under Iranian 'approval', with some vessels following a route through the Strait closer to the Iranian coastline than normal," including Indian and Pakistani vessels, marine consultancy Clarksons said in a note.

Meade of Lloyds List added: "Several governments, including China, but (also) India, Pakistan, Iraq, Malaysia, they're all in direct talks with Tehran, coordinating vessel transits" with Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

- Alternative routes surge -

Shipping companies are carving out other ways to get their cargos through the region. Major shipping firm CMA CGM said it was moving freight across Gulf countries by rail and road to avoid the strait.

"Gulf maritime traffic patterns indicate early signs of global rebalancing," said marine intelligence group Windward in a report.

In recent days transit volumes through the Bab el-Mandeb strait off east Africa surged 280 percent, and 70 percent through the Suez Canal, it said, indicating that "shipping is adapting through alternative corridors."


Iran Reportedly Arrests 97 People Accused of Working with Israel

People walk in Tehran Bazaar, ahead of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 18, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
People walk in Tehran Bazaar, ahead of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 18, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
TT

Iran Reportedly Arrests 97 People Accused of Working with Israel

People walk in Tehran Bazaar, ahead of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 18, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
People walk in Tehran Bazaar, ahead of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 18, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iran's intelligence ministry has arrested 97 people for being "soldiers of Israel", state media reported on Thursday, in the latest round ⁠of a security sweep ⁠that has seen hundreds detained over alleged linked ⁠to Israel and the US since the start of the war.

Earlier on Thursday, state media quoted the police commander of Alborz province ⁠as ⁠saying that 41 people were arrested for sending videos to foreign-based opposition media channels.

More than 1,300 people in Iran have been killed during the US-Israeli war.

In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire, including a Thai agricultural worker who died overnight after getting hit with shrapnel.

Three people were also killed in the occupied West Bank overnight by an Iranian missile strike, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

At least 13 US military members have been killed.


‘Hollywood-Style’ Narrative in Assassination Campaign Against Iranian Leaders

Israeli F-35 (“Adir”) aircraft during their participation in military operations against Iran (Israeli military)
Israeli F-35 (“Adir”) aircraft during their participation in military operations against Iran (Israeli military)
TT

‘Hollywood-Style’ Narrative in Assassination Campaign Against Iranian Leaders

Israeli F-35 (“Adir”) aircraft during their participation in military operations against Iran (Israeli military)
Israeli F-35 (“Adir”) aircraft during their participation in military operations against Iran (Israeli military)

Israeli officials are casting a series of alleged operations against senior Iranian figures as precise, intelligence-driven strikes, while analysts warn the narrative risks overstating their strategic impact and fueling a “false sense of victory.”

Among those cited in Israeli accounts are Ali Larijani, the head of the Supreme National Defense Council, and Esmail Khatib, Iran’s intelligence minister.

Israeli descriptions portray the operations as evidence of deep intelligence penetration within Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, often framed in dramatic, almost cinematic terms.

Officials say the operation against Larijani involved hundreds of personnel from military intelligence, the air force and special operations forces, relying on human sources and advanced surveillance technology.

He was reportedly tracked for months. After appearing at a Quds Day march last Friday, he was placed under continuous surveillance for 72 hours until what Israeli sources described as a “rare opportunity” - combining actionable intelligence, favorable conditions and intensive coordination - prompting the strike.

Following the operation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reported to have authorized the military to carry out assassinations of Iranian leaders without prior political approval, an extraordinary departure from standard procedure, which typically requires the PM’s authorization.

According to Israel’s public broadcaster, military intelligence recently gathered what it described as “dramatic intelligence” on Larijani’s location after he reportedly went into hiding early in the confrontation. A “golden tip” received Monday night enabled aerial tracking until a decision to strike was made, aided by improved weather conditions.

Channel 12 reported that Israeli aircraft entered Tehran’s airspace upon receiving the intelligence and remained on standby until authorization. The strike allegedly targeted his sister’s apartment using heavy munitions, destroying the building.

Larijani’s public appearance during the Quds Day march was cited as a key factor in the decision to act. Israeli accounts add that he had tried to evade surveillance by frequently changing locations and operating in secrecy, but intelligence services tracked him nonetheless.

Similar claims have been made regarding Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. Israeli sources say they obtained precise, sometimes real-time, intelligence on his movements. For example, they say his security detail changed the timing of a meeting at the last minute - from Saturday evening, Feb. 28, to Saturday morning - yet the adjustment was reportedly known in advance.

Journalists at the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Israel initially planned a strike for the original time but revised the operation accordingly.

Israeli commentators have questioned how Iran could fail to protect senior officials despite anticipating such threats and deploying extensive security measures. The apparent intelligence breaches raise doubts about the effectiveness of the Revolutionary Guard’s protective apparatus.

However, former Mossad officer Sima Shine, now a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, warned that such assassinations could prove counterproductive. She said Larijani was seen as a pragmatic figure capable of bringing together different factions within Iran’s leadership. His removal, she said, could empower hard-liners, intensifying resistance and prolonging the conflict.

Similarly, former Israeli military intelligence official Danny Citrinowicz said Tehran has sufficient depth in leadership to absorb such losses. He dismissed the idea that assassinations alone could significantly weaken the system or decisively shift the course of the conflict.