TEHRAN -- Iran has equipped 51 of its cities and towns with civil defense systems to thwart any possible foreign attack, a senior defense official said on Saturday.
The civil defense equipments enable Iran’s armed forces to “identify and monitor threats by using round-the-clock software according to the type of the threat and risk,” deputy defense minister General Mehdi Farahi was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
“These days, depending on the strength of countries, the form of battles has become more complicated,” said Farahi, adding that hybrid forms of warfare including cyber, biological and radioactive attacks, have replaced classical wars.
Iran has accused the occupying regime of Israel and the United States of cyber attacks in recent years that have impaired the country’s infrastructure. Iran has also accused the Zionist regime, which has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility, of sabotaging its nuclear facilities.
U.S.-Iran military tensions have also long dogged the region. In the latest incident, Iran seized U.S. military sail drones in the Red Sea earlier this week.
On Thursday, Iran seized two
American maritime drones operating in the Red Sea, the latest naval incident in a string of late-summer spats between Washington and Tehran.
The crew of the Iranian naval ship that captured the drones, Saildrone Explorers that were operating near each other, hoisted the vessels onto their warship, the Jamaran, and covered them with tarp.
On request from the U.S. Navy, the Iranian crew released the drones Friday morning, officials said.
It was the second such incident this week, following Iran’s temporary capture in the Persian Gulf overnight Monday one of the same type of American naval drone.
In that case, the Navy said it spotted an Iranian Islamic Revolution Guards Corps naval support ship towing a Saildrone Explorer. The American seamen told the Iranians that the drone was U.S. government property and asked for it back.
The United States and Iran often tangle in the Persian Gulf and in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.
The United States and its partners in the region have been working to set up a network of unmanned drones in a program to purportedly contain Iran.
The U.S. Navy has been operating Saildrone Explorers — which operate with cameras that can take 360 degree photos — since last fall.
One official said Thursday’s incident stood out because the seizure was conducted by the Iranian navy, because such operations are usually carried out by the IRGC navy.
Iranian officials said the measures were taken in order to avoid an unwarranted maritime accident.