Iran parades new ‘longest-range’ drone on Iraq war anniversary — state media

Drones displayed in the event were named MoHajjer, Shahed and Arash (TASNIM)
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Updated 22 September 2023
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Iran parades new ‘longest-range’ drone on Iraq war anniversary — state media

  • Iran said last month that it had built an advanced drone named MoHajjer-10 with an enhanced flight range and duration as well as a larger payload
  • The Iran-Iraq war erupted on Sept. 22, 1980 when the forces of then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Iran

Iran on Friday paraded its military hardware on the anniversary of its 1980s war with Iraq, including “the longest-range drone in the world” along with ballistic and hypersonic missiles, Iranian state media said.
They said the drone “was unveiled” in the parade, which was broadcast live, and that drones displayed in the event were named MoHajjer, Shahed and Arash.
The Islamic Republic said last month that it had built an advanced drone named MoHajjer-10 with an enhanced flight range and duration as well as a larger payload.


It has an operational range of 2,000 km and can fly for up to 24 hours, state media reported then, adding that its payload could reach 300 kg, double the capacity of the MoHajjer-6 drone.
US officials have accused Iran of providing MoHajjer-6 drones, among other unmanned aerial vehicles, to Russia for its war against Ukraine. Tehran denies this.
“Our forces ensure security in the region and the Arabian Gulf,” President Ebrahim Raisi said at Friday’s parade in the capital Tehran. “We can teach the people of the region that resistance is today’s way. What forces the enemy to retreat is not submission and wavering, but resistance.”
A video released last month by Iranian media showed the MoHajjer-6 among other military hardware, with a text reading “prepare your shelters” in both Persian and Hebrew, the latter an allusion to Iran’s arch-regional enemy, Israel.
The Iran-Iraq war erupted on Sept. 22, 1980 when the forces of then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Iran. The conflict, which was economically devastating and left at least half a million dead, ended in stalemate in August 1988.


Houthis, Yemen government to exchange nearly 3,000 prisoners: officials

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Houthis, Yemen government to exchange nearly 3,000 prisoners: officials

  • Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels and its internationally-recognized government have agreed to a prisoner swap that includes nearly 3,000 people in total, including seven Saudis
MUSCAT: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels and its internationally-recognized government have agreed to a prisoner swap that includes nearly 3,000 people in total, including seven Saudis, officials from both sides said Tuesday.
The deal came after nearly a fortnight of discussions between Yemeni officials from both sides in Muscat, the capital of neighboring Oman, a key mediator in the conflict that has lasted for over a decade.
Majed Fadhail, a member of the government delegation for the prisoner swap talks, said they had agreed with the Houthis on a new exchange that would see “thousands” of war prisoners released.
Abdulqader Al-Mortada, an official with the Houthi delegation, said in a statement on X that “we signed an agreement today with the other party to implement a large-scale prisoner exchange deal involving 1,700 of our prisoners in exchange for 1,200 of theirs, including seven Saudis and 23 Sudanese.”
Two of the seven Saudi nationals are air force pilots, Fadhail told AFP.
United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg in a statement welcomed the agreement as “a positive and meaningful step that will hopefully ease the suffering of detainees and their families across Yemen.”
He added that its “effective implementation will require the continued engagement and cooperation of the parties, coordinated regional support and sustained efforts to build on this progress toward further releases.”