“Iranian UAVs are also now active in African states and in Venezuela, 2,000 kilometers away from Florida.”
Iran is exporting aerial drones not only to its proxy forces in the Mideast, but to allies in Africa and South America as well according to new report.
It’s well-known that Iran has also provided unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to its proxy allies, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, Houthi militias in Yemen, and other Shiite militias in Syria and Iraq. But according to the Alma Research and Education Center, an Israeli think tank, Iran is proliferating its drones more widely than realized.
“This threat isn’t limited to the Middle East. Iranian UAVs are also now active in African states and in Venezuela, 2,000 kilometers away from Florida,” Alma reported.
“Venezuela is known to have UAVs ostensibly produced locally, but in reality, they are Iranian UAVs. These drones are used to secure their oil fields and belong to the Mohajer 6 and Mohajer N2 type model. The Venezuelan UAV is an Iranian Mohajer 6 UAV. It has a flight duration capacity of 12 hours, a flight velocity of 200 km/h, and a flight range of 2,000 km (GPS-based). The Mohajer 6 has the ability to carry precision armaments.”
The report also says that Hezbollah has 2,000 UAVs of its own. Most are made in Iran and are more advanced than those possessed by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The UAVs have different capabilities. They may be designed for reconnaissance, delivering payloads, dropping bombs, or firing rockets. Iran also possesses suicide or kamikaze drones like the kind that attacked the Mercer Street, an Israeli ship off the coast of Oman in July.
Alma added that terror groups commonly purchase Chinese-made UAVs on the civilian market and adapt them for their needs.
In May, Israel shot down an Iranian drone that had entered Israeli air space from Jordan.
Israel reportedly killed Hamas drone experts Mohammed Zawahri (2016 in Tunisia) and Fadi al-Batsh (2018 in Malaysia).
Some Israeli air strikes in Syria have targeted Iranian drone facilities.