Latest news with #FarzinNadimi
France 24
20-06-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Drone factories, camouflaged trucks: Iran releases images of Israel's covert operation
The Israeli drones successfully neutralised several of the Islamic Republic's anti-air defences deep inside its territory. What is particularly surprising is that some of these drones were manufactured in covert production facilities deep within Iran. Iranian state TV has broadcast images showing camouflaged lorries and vans that were used to transport the drones, as well as images of the makeshift FPV factories. The Israeli attack on Iran began on June 13. Its first targets were commanders of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, nuclear scientists, and military and nuclear facilities. According to Israeli information, 16 IRGC commanders and 14 nuclear scientists were eliminated by the Israeli army in the first round of attacks on Iran. Eyewitnesses report that from the very first moments, small drones and FPVs were seen or heard in the skies of several Iranian cities, particularly Tehran. Videos released by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) show these small drones attacking Iran's missile systems. Additional footage reveals the drones being launched from inside Iran, demonstrating their use against targets within the country. In response to the widespread use of this tactic by infiltrated Israeli agents on the ground in Iran, the Iranian regime's security forces on June 14 were compelled to publicly urge the people of Iran to stay vigilant and report any suspicious lorries, vans, or activities to the authorities. Images of these lorries and vans, converted to transport FPV drones and discovered by citizens or security forces, were widely shared on social media. State-run television and pro-regime outlets also aired videos showcasing hidden, makeshift drone production facilities discovered near Tehran and Isfahan. In one of the videos, the state TV presenter shows kits for small drones that are ready for production. According to the report, this makeshift facility was located covertly in a three-storey building near Tehran. But were Israeli agents able to establish drone-production sites right under the nose of Iran's intelligence services? 'Most of this system is designed for internal repression' Farzin Nadimi, a research fellow at the Washington Institute and an expert on Iranian weaponry, explains: We have known for many years about the deep infiltration of Israeli assets, almost at every level of the IRGC, the IRGC intelligence service, other intelligence services of Iran, the military and among politicians. In my opinion, the main cause could be corruption. But it's not only that. There is a lot at stake when working with Israel in Iran. With all the risks involved, money can't be the only motivation. When they see how corrupt the system is, they lose respect and loyalty for it, and the higher their rank, the better they understand how corrupt the whole system is. Multiple Iranian officials had issued warnings about the infiltration of Israeli agents within Iran, including at high-ranking levels of the IRGC and the broader power structure. In an unprecedented speech in 2021, Ali Younesi, former intelligence minister of Iran, stated: 'Over the past ten years, the Mossad [Israel's main intelligence agency] has infiltrated several of the regime's structures, to the point that every single Iranian official must now worry for their own life. Any attack is now possible.' On another occasion, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, former president of Iran, claimed in a 2024 interview with CNN Türk: 'The head of Iran's counterintelligence, tasked with finding Mossad operatives, was himself an Israeli agent.' Nadimi continues: On the other hand the Iranian secret services have trained their apparatus for internal security risks. Most of this system is designed for internal repression and internal protests, and they have seen these protests as the more urgent threat than a foreign attack. Nadimi emphasises that he's not surprised that Iranian intelligence services are caught off guard by these drones: In fact, it is not so complicated to smuggle them into Iran. These drones consist of small parts that are easy to smuggle into Iran. Many parts are easy to manufacture in Iran, such as fibreglass parts. The controls and other electronic parts would be easy to smuggle into Iran via the Persian Gulf region, e.g., Dubai and other borders. For a complex mission like this, however, you can't rely entirely on locals and local assets, you need to have agents on the ground. They had planned this for a long time. They claim to have been working on this plan for many years. The Iranian authorities have cut the internet connection since June 18, and claim this has significantly curbed FPV and small drone attacks since then. Nadimi explains: Drone technology has made enormous progress in recent years, particularly in the Russia-Ukraine war. In this war, we have seen drones or FPVs use different types of technologies. We have seen that the Ukrainians use mobile phone networks to guide their drones deep into Russian territory. Thanks to the mobile network, they send information and users can also send them commands. This is quite useful and practical. So these drones could have relied on the 5G, mobile and LTE networks, so a disruption of the network at this level could theoretically have a partial impact on them. This is not the first time Israeli agents have infiltrated Iran in recent years. In July 2024, Israel successfully targeted and killed Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, during a visit to Tehran. He was killed by a precise strike on his room in a protected compound in northern Iran. On November 27, 2020, Israel also succeeded in eliminating Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the scientist whom Western intelligence agencies and Israel believed to be the mastermind behind "Project Amad", Iran's covert effort to build a nuclear bomb in the early 2000s. He was killed on his way home when he came under fire from a machine gun mounted on a parked truck, which was remotely controlled via satellite.
Mint
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Israeli air dominance means it is shooting down Iranian missiles before they launch
Iran is firing fewer missiles at Israel each day after Israel secured dominance over Iranian skies, enabling it to destroy launchers and take out missiles before they even leave the ground. Israel said on Sunday that it had created an air corridor to Tehran. By Monday, it said its air force had complete control over the skies of Tehran. Since then it has struck dozens of missile launchers amounting to more than a third of Iran's total, the military said, sometimes just as they are preparing to launch an attack. On Wednesday, the military said it had struck overnight a loaded 'Emad" missile launcher as it was about to be fired toward Israel. The air force has also been striking daily Iran's supply of missiles, detection radars and missile batteries, in the wake of Israel's Thursday night attack on Iranian nuclear facilities and senior leadership. This aerial control is proving crucial. Iran fired some 200 missiles in four barrages in its first round of attacks against Israel on Friday and Saturday. But between Tuesday and Wednesday, Iran fired 60 missiles at Israel over eight different waves of strikes, at times sending fewer than a dozen at a time, according to estimates by Washington-based Jewish Institute for National Security of America. Fewer missiles at a time makes it easier for Israeli air-defense systems to intercept them, according to Israeli officials and air-defense experts. There have been no casualties from missile attacks in Israel since Tuesday, according to Israeli paramedics. Twenty-four Israelis have been killed as a result of Iranian strikes since the current confrontation began. Iran's plan, according to statements by senior Iranian military officials before the war, was to overwhelm Israeli air defenses by firing around 400 missiles a day against Israel, said Farzin Nadimi, a senior fellow with the Washington Institute. 'Those plans were all shattered when Israel just defeated Iran's integrated air-defense systems, and within a short period," Nadimi said. Israel's aircraft and other security forces have destroyed 120 missile launchers, squeezing Iran's capability to strike Israel, according to Israeli officials. Israel's control over Iranian skies means it is also been regularly striking Iran's missile storage and production capabilities. Iran started the current conflict with around 2,000 ballistic missiles capable of reaching Israel, and has fired around 400 of those so far, according to Israeli military estimates. Experts say Iran has a lot more missiles and many more other kinds of missiles in its arsenal, but it isn't clear how many of those are able to hit faraway targets like Israel. Smoke rising in Herzliya, Israel, after an Iranian missile attack. Some analysts are also speculating that Iran may be withholding large salvos ahead of a possible expansion of the war. President Trump issued threats against Iran and its leadership on Tuesday, suggesting the U.S. could join the war. Israel's aerial dominance is providing the country with some confidence that the impact of the conflict could be contained, at least in Israel. On Wednesday, Israel's airport authorities allowed the first flight to land at Ben Gurion international airport since the start of the current conflict, indicating it feels it has some control over the airspace. Israel's home front command, also on Wednesday, said it would lift some of the restrictions on public gatherings and allow businesses with or near bomb shelters to reopen. Israel has bomb shelters built all around the country and dotting its cities, making many businesses in range of protection. Israel's ability to spot, foil and intercept launches is likely forcing the Iranians to be more careful about moving missile launchers around, because moving makes them more vulnerable to attack, said Yaakov Amidror, a former Israeli national security adviser and fellow at JINSA. Amidror said Israel has also succeeded in disrupting Iranian command-and-control by targeting its senior and midlevel commands, further reducing their ability to coordinate large missile attacks. 'Take all the elements together and they still have a huge potential and may use it in the future, but for the time being Israel has degraded their ability to launch big salvos at many times during the day," Amidror said. Fabian Hinz, research fellow for missile technologies and UAVs at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that Iran is now having to fire missiles at Israel from farther away, which means they are relying mainly on their liquid propellant weapons that have sufficient 1,000-mile range to hit Israel. These liquid propellant ballistic missiles have a number of disadvantages compared with solid propellant missiles, according to Hinz, which is why Iran has been focusing its work on developing longer-range solid propellant missiles in recent years. The biggest disadvantage is they take a considerable amount of time—perhaps a couple of hours—to fuel up, which means Iran can't fire a quick barrage of missiles, as they can with solid propellant missiles. That leaves them more exposed to Israeli strikes. They also require more personnel and trucks to prepare them, which again makes them more visible to Israeli attacks. The fuel liquid propellant missiles use includes extremely hazardous and toxic chemicals, requiring personnel to use protective gear and creating greater safety risks. And the fuel is less well protected within the missile than with solid propellant missiles. 'If you have the Israeli air force overhead hunting for launchers, you really want a system that allows you to launch with minimal preparation and get away as quickly as possible," Hinz said. Nadimi said he expects Iran to pivot to using its most advanced missiles to hit strategic targets like defense industries, military facilities or high-value economic targets. He noted that Iran on Tuesday night said it fired Fattah 1 missiles, which fly at hypersonic speed and have a warhead that can maneuver as it closes in on its target, making it harder for air defenses to intercept. Israeli defense companies are working on systems to intercept hypersonic missiles but they aren't in use yet, a vulnerability in Israel's defenses, he said. Judging the success of Iran's most advanced missiles will be difficult due to strict censorship in Israel against the publication of successful strikes against security-related or other sensitive targets, Nadimi said. If Israel begins to run out of interceptors, Iran could pivot back to its original strategy of trying to overwhelm Israeli air defenses, he added. Write to Dov Lieber at
Voice of America
05-03-2025
- Politics
- Voice of America
Iran wraps up 'unprecedented' military exercises highlighting strengths, weaknesses, researchers say
Iran is wrapping up two months of its most intense military exercises in decades as it tries to deter potential attacks from its archrivals Israel and the United States, security researchers tell VOA. The Washington-based researchers also say the Iranian drills that began in late December, and were due to conclude by mid-March, have involved some weapons systems that pose a threat to the U.S. and Israel and others that expose weaknesses in Iran's deterrent capabilities. "The pace, intensity and publicity of the exercises is unprecedented," said Behnam Ben Taleblu of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Farzin Nadimi of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said he has been studying the Islamic Republic's military for the past 20 years. "I have never seen them conduct so many drills in such a short period of time," he said. Iranian state media reported the start of the exercises on Dec. 28. A week later, they said the exercises, codenamed "Great Prophet 19," were part of annual "Eqtedar" ["Power"] drills that involved Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ground forces engaging in war games in western Iran from Jan. 4-9. Several more exercises followed, including IRGC and Iranian Army air defense drills near nuclear facilities in Natanz, Fordow and the Arak reactor in Khondab; IRGC naval drills in the Persian Gulf; a second round of IRGC ground force drills in southwestern Iran; and an Army drill, codenamed "Zulfiqar" in reference to a double-pointed sword in Islamic tradition, in southern Iran and the waters of the Gulf of Oman and northern Indian Ocean. On Feb. 26, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran chief Mohammad Eslami announced the start of a two-day 'nuclear defense drill' involving nuclear facilities, in comments to reporters, although he did not elaborate. There have been no state media reports about the outcome of those drills, which researchers said would typically involve electronic simulations. Iranian officials and state media have described the military exercises as having several goals, from boosting public morale to strengthening Iran's defensive and offensive capabilities, its integration of military forces, and its use of indigenous technologies to deter external threats. Heightened sense of threat "The Iranians clearly see a heightened military threat from Israel and the U.S.," Nadimi said. Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has toughened U.S. warnings of consequences for Iran if it refines its enriched uranium to weapons-grade levels and fashions it into a nuclear warhead. Tehran long has denied seeking nuclear weapons. "They cannot have a nuclear weapon. And if I think that they will have a nuclear weapon, despite what I just said, I think that's going to be very unfortunate for them," Trump said in a Feb. 4 joint news conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a Feb. 16 appearance with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jerusalem, Netanyahu noted that Israel had dealt what he called a "mighty blow to Iran's terror axis" over the prior 16 months. That included Israel's first-ever aerial assault on the Islamic Republic, a sustained late-October strike on what Israel said were Iranian air defense and missile facilities in retaliation for a barrage of Iranian ballistic missiles on Israel earlier that month. "Under the strong leadership of President Trump and with your unflinching support, I have no doubt that we can and will finish the job," Netanyahu said. Responding to a VOA request for comment on Iran's military exercises, the Israeli military said it "conducts continuous situational assessments to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, both defensive and offensive." A spokesperson for Netanyahu declined to comment when asked by VOA about the Israeli government's assessment of the Iranian drills. The U.S. Defense Department did not respond to a VOA inquiry about its view of the exercises. Brian Carter of the American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project said the Islamic Republic feels exposed because of recent setbacks to its proxies and allies in Lebanon and Syria. Israel killed the leaders of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group and destroyed much of its weaponry in a two-month offensive from September to November, while Sunni Islamist rebels in Syria ousted its longtime Iran-allied autocratic ruler, Bashar Assad, in December. "The Iranian air defense and naval exercises are meant to deter the U.S. and Israel from attacking key Iranian sites after Israel's degradation of Hezbollah left Iran without its primary deterrent against such an attack," Carter said. "Many of the ground exercises, on the other hand, seek to better protect western Iran from what Tehran sees as a renewed Sunni terrorist threat in Syria and Iraq." Some of those Iranian drills involved weapons systems that could harm Israel and the U.S. if Iran retaliated for an attack, the researchers said. "Iran's stockpile of long- and short-range ballistic missiles continues to pose a serious threat to Israel and U.S. bases in the region," Nadimi said. "Iran can fire hundreds of ballistic missiles at any given time and saturate Israeli or U.S. air defenses." Carter said Iran's naval forces also have fast-moving small boats armed with anti-ship missiles that could swarm and threaten U.S. naval vessels in the region. Nadimi said one aspect of the recent exercises that exposed an Iranian weakness is the limited usage of advanced weaponry by Iranian forces. "I have not seen widespread use of modern systems like Rezvan loitering munition FPV [First Person View] drones and Shahed-149 'Gaza' high-altitude long endurance (HALE) drones by regular IRGC and Army units," Nadimi said. "Only Iran's elite military units have been using those systems widely." Carter said another weakness is a reliance on indigenous Iranian air defense systems after Israel destroyed units of Iran's most advanced system, the Russian-made S-300, last October. "It is unlikely that Iran could repel a U.S. or Israeli airstrike given the inferiority of the Iranian systems that have been used in these exercises relative to the modern U.S. and Israeli capabilities," Carter said. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report.
