Tehran, Iran – Iran’s army and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have been showcasing and testing new defensive and offensive weapons in large-scale military exercises for the past three months.
The country is preparing for another tumultuous year amid threats by the United States and Israel to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities, critical energy infrastructure, and military sites.
Iran is also promising a third iteration of its major military strikes on Israel, in retaliation for Israeli attacks amid the devastating war on Gaza.
The exercises – Eqtedar, Zolfaqar and Great Prophet – have been held across Iran, the Sea of Oman and the northern Indian Ocean.
The weapons tested show Iran intends to maintain its defiance of Israel and the West, refusing to negotiate with US President Donald Trump under his “maximum pressure” policy and continuing to advance its nuclear programme.
Secret missile cities
The IRGC unveiled three major underground military bases, with commanders saying they are prepared for a prolonged war.
Inside what state television called a “missile megacity”, dozens of ballistic projectiles could be seen, some on mobile launchers for quick deployment.
These included:
- Khorramshahr-4, a liquid-fuel rocket with a range of 2,000km (1,242 miles) and an upgraded warhead reportedly weighing up to two tonnes (4,400 pounds).
- Jahad, a liquid-fuel rocket that can go up to 1,000km (621 miles) with a 650kg (1,400-pound) warhead.
- L360, a solid-fuel rocket that can go 180km (111 miles) while carrying 150kg (330 pounds) of explosives.
- Qadr, a two-stage rocket that can travel up to 2,000km and carry a warhead weighing up to 750kg (1,650 pounds).
- Emad, a liquid-fuel missile with a range of about 1,800km (1,118 miles) and warheads up to 750kg.
The IRGC Navy also showed some of a secret underground naval base along Iran’s southern coast.
Inside it, hundreds of missile-carrying speedboats and antiship mines were shown, as well as a new cruise missile, an antiship projectile called the Qadr-380. The Qadr-380 can travel more than 1,000km, meaning Iran would be able to attack ships from deep inside its territory.
The IRGC also says it has a new antiship supersonic cruise missile with a range of 2,000km that it will unveil soon.
Warplanes
Iran used its fighter jets as well, some domestic models such as the Saeqeh and Azarakhsh, as well as many older US and Russian models dating back to before Iran’s 1979 revolution.
It also used the newer, Russian-made Yak-130 alongside MiG-29 fighter jets to intercept an enemy drone as part of an exercise.
The subsonic two-seat jet Yak-130 was delivered by Moscow in September 2023 to train pilots for the advanced Su-35 fighter jets that Iran has long ordered but not received.
Air defences
Defending critical infrastructure is a priority for Iranian authorities, especially after Israel attacked multiple Iranian provinces in late October.
After that attack, Israeli military sources claimed Iran had lost all four of its Russian-made S-300 missile defence batteries and more during those attacks, according to local and Western media. They claimed Iran was left mostly defenceless.
Tehran claimed the impact was limited and it had replaced damaged gear.
The S-300 made an appearance in live drills in January, in tandem with an upgraded version of the domestic Bavar-373, which has been in development for years, Iranian media reported.
The Bavar-373 is Iran’s top high-altitude missile defence system, reportedly capable of shooting down incoming missiles at a range of more than 300km (186 miles). It is equipped with tactical Sayyad 4B surface-to-air missiles.
A variety of other missile defence systems that Iran has had in its arsenal for years were also tested, including the 15-Khordad, Majid, Arman, Zoubin, and Tondar.
A loitering surface-to-air missile branded the 358 was also unveiled during exercises in January. With a reported range of 400km (248 miles), the new missile will be used with domestic defence systems to bolster Iran’s ability to shoot down drones and low-altitude aerial threats.
Iranian armed forces also trained for defending against attacks on the Natanz, Fordow and Khondab nuclear sites, and fortified defences around airports, refineries and sea ports.
They drilled for scenarios including warplanes penetrating Iranian airspace, and air strikes using heavy “bunker-buster” bombs, which the US and Israel use extensively to penetrate deep underground.
Army Air Force held helicopter exercises, with a senior commander reporting they are building 1,000 more, many of them overhauls of older models since Iran is unable to buy from many international parts suppliers due to US and European sanctions.
Sea, ground defence
The drills included attack and defence scenarios on different terrain.
Heavy armoured vehicles, including the Iranian-made Karrar main battle tank and the Russian-made BMP2 carrier, were put through their paces in desert and coastal scenarios.
Soldiers and special forces commandos drilled amphibious operations, including testing coastal defence capabilities against incoming daytime and nighttime attacks.
The warships Jamaran and Zagros were shown in action, as were a large number of speedboats.
The IRGC claimed its newly unveiled Heydar 110, which can carry two cruise missiles, is the fastest catamaran speedboat in the world with a speed of 110 knots (more than 200km per hour).
It also launched Hadid-110, a suicide drone with a jet engine that can be fired from an underwater drone before slamming into its pre-designated target.
📹 حدید ۱۱۰؛ جدیدترین پهپاد انتحاری
شلیک پهپاد از زیردریایی
برای اولین بار تصاویری از شلیک پهپاد انتحاری از زیردریایی بدون سرنشین منتشر شدhttps://t.co/4uHcChDWEq pic.twitter.com/kCy7XS8hzv
— خبرگزاری تسنیم 🇮🇷 (@Tasnimnews_Fa) February 12, 2025
Translation: Hadid-110, Iran’s latest suicide drone, is for the first time shown being fired from an unmanned underwater vehicle.
Iran deployed several classes of submarines, including Tareq, Fateh and Ghadir, and said it launched domestic Valfajr torpedos from the submarines.
Anti-submarine missiles were fired from US-made Sea Hawk helicopters in the Sea of Oman, and officials said they would soon show a missile-carrying hovercraft corvette.
Drones, old and new
At the start of February, the IRGC deployed IRIS Shahid Bagheri, the country’s first drone carrier.
The converted merchant ship is outfitted with a 180-metre (590-foot) runway, eight hangars on two storeys, a hospital, a football pitch, and fuel stations for drones, helicopters and vessels.
It can launch variants of the Ababil, Mohajer and Homa reconnaissance and attack drones.
Stunning images of jet-powered drones taking off and landing from the deck of Iran’s new homegrown drone carrier Shahid Bagheri pic.twitter.com/1zx3U2sgiK
— Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) February 6, 2025
A scaled-down version of the new jet-engine Qaher-313 drone was also seen on the deck, and Bell-206 and Mil-17 helicopters landed on it.
The drone carrier’s defences seemed light, with a limited number of missiles and guns on board, and there was no clarity over whether or how it would participate in a strike group.
The Iranian army said separately it has taken delivery of 1,000 new drones, including variants of the Shahed one-way unmanned aerial vehicles that the West maintains Iran gave Russia for the war in Ukraine.
Drone swarm operations – during which a large number of drones are launched simultaneously to overwhelm defences – were also drilled using several types of projectiles.
These included first-person view (FPV) drones, which have been heavily deployed by both Russia and Ukraine during their three-year war.
