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)
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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.



Study: Highest Number of Conflicts Worldwide in 2024 Since 1946

Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli military strike on Gaza, during their funeral in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli military strike on Gaza, during their funeral in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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Study: Highest Number of Conflicts Worldwide in 2024 Since 1946

Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli military strike on Gaza, during their funeral in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli military strike on Gaza, during their funeral in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

The world saw the highest number of armed conflicts in almost 80 years in 2024, dethroning 2023 as a record year, a Norwegian study published Wednesday showed, highlighting the risks linked to a US disengagement.

Last year, 61 conflicts were registered in the world across 36 countries, with some countries experiencing several simultaneous conflicts, the report by the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (Prio) said.

In 2023, there were 59 conflicts in 34 countries, AFP reported.

"This is not just a spike -- it's a structural shift," said Siri Aas Rustad, the main author of the report which covers trends in armed conflicts in the period 1946-2024.

"The world today is far more violent, and far more fragmented, than it was a decade ago," she said.

Africa remained the most ravaged continent, with 28 conflicts involving at least one state, followed by Asia with 17, the Middle East with 10, Europe with three and the Americas with two.

More than half of these countries experienced two or more conflicts.

The number of deaths resulting from fighting remained around the same level as in 2023, at about 129,000, making 2024 the fourth-deadliest year since the end of the Cold War in 1989, the study said.

The death toll was led by the wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, as well as clashes in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

"Now is not the time for the United States -– or any global power -– to retreat from international engagement," Rustad said.

"Isolationism in the face of rising global violence would be a profound mistake with long-term human life consequences," she said, a reference to US President Donald Trump's "America First" campaign.

"It is a mistake to assume the world can look away. Whether under President Trump or any future administration, abandoning global solidarity now would mean walking away from the very stability the US helped build after 1945," she said.

The study is based on data compiled by Sweden's Uppsala University.