Kyoumars Heydari, the commander of the ground forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, claimed its country has designed an advanced long-range suicide drone "specifically for attacking Haifa and Tel Aviv", two important cities in Israel.
“We have specially designed this drone for Haifa and Tel Aviv. This is a unique drone that was developed for this task,” state media quoted Koumars Heydari.
Iran “will unveil this drone’s capabilities in future exercises,” he said.
Israel has usually called out Iran's drone program, and calls it a threat to the region's security. Recently Iran concluded a deal with Russia to provide Moscow with Iranian-made drones.
Iran does not recognize Israel and Iranian military commanders have repeatedly threatened to attack the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa.
Iran and US came close to revive the 2015 nuclear deal that Trump administration left in 2018, the talks were backed by most parties except Israel that openly worked to undermine a potential deal between the two.
The 2015 deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. Israel believes the deal is too generous to Tehran and is opposed to efforts by the US and the EU to restore it.
On Saturday, Britain, France and Germany – who are parties to deal alongside the US, Russia and China – said they had “serious doubts” about Iran’s intentions to revive the agreement.
Tehran said the statement by the three European countries was “unconstructive,” and Moscow’s envoy to the talks called it “untimely.”
Iran says that its nuclear program is directed to peaceful means, while the UN atomic watch dog has questioned the military dimension of Iran’s nuclear program, and was the main obstacle in reviving the deal.