Iran's new 'Jihad' missile is displayed during the annual military parade marking the anniversary of the outbreak of the 1980-1988 war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq, in Tehran on Sept. 21, 2024. (Credit: Atta Kenare/ AFP)
Iran unveiled a new ballistic missile and a one-way attack drone during a military parade on Saturday, according to state media, amid rising regional tensions and allegations of arming Russia.
Western governments accuse Iran of supplying drones and missiles to Russia for its war against Ukraine, which Tehran has consistently denied.
The Jihad missile, featuring solid propellant, was designed and manufactured by the aerospace division of the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, and has an operational range of 1,000 kilometers, according to the Irna news agency. The Shahed-136B drone is an upgraded version of the Shahed-136, with new features and a range of over 4,000 kilometers, the agency reported.
Newly appointed President Massoud Pezeshkian attended the annual parade in Tehran commemorating the 1980-88 war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
"Today, our defensive and deterrent capabilities have developed so much that even demons would not consider aggression against our beloved Iran," he stated. He added that "through the unity and cohesion of Muslim countries, we can confront the bloodthirsty, genocidal usurper that is Israel, which shows no mercy to anyone—neither women, nor children, nor the young, nor the old. »
The Middle East has been in turmoil since the Palestinian group Hamas, backed by Iran, attacked Israel on Oct.7, 2023, triggering the ongoing war in Gaza and involving Iran's allied groups in the region.
Tensions have escalated in recent days as Israeli fire has shifted northward to the Lebanese border, where Israeli troops are engaged with the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah.
An Israeli airstrike on Friday targeting Hezbollah's stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut killed 16 members of its elite Radwan force, according to a source close to the group. This attack follows a series of significant strikes attributed to Israel that targeted Hezbollah's transmission devices earlier this week.
Additionally, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the United States imposed new sanctions on Iran earlier this month, alleging that it had supplied ballistic missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine.