TEHRAN – A senior Iranian military commander says the country has reached self-sufficiency and developed the capability to export its products in sensitive military areas, adding Iran is now is capable of exporting missiles to other countries.

“Today, we are proud to be one of the countries that can export missiles, drones and vessels,” said Brigadier General Alireza Tangsiri, the commander of the Naval Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

The top general stressed that Iran was the target of military aggression during the 8-year Iraqi-imposed war in the 1890s and had very limited military equipment back then.

“They attacked us. We had bare hands. We had nothing, and they didn’t give us anything, either. As the Supreme Leader of the [Islamic] Revolution [Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei] aptly said, they even denied us barbed wire,” he noted.

The Israeli regime claimed that it had taken out Iran’s capability to develop missiles and drones during its recent military aggression against the country.

However, Iran has made great strides in recent years in the military area, being able to domestically develop a range of military products, including missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

Iran’s massive and rapid progress in drone technology and its capabilities to carry out long-range strikes in drone warfare with a high level of accuracy have cemented the country’s growing military might in West Asia.

The cutting-edge drone program has been among the Iranian military’s breakthroughs in manufacturing a broad range of indigenous defensive equipment to make the armed forces self-sufficient in the face of years-long U.S. threats and sanctions.

Iranian officials have repeatedly warned that the country will not hesitate to strengthen its military capabilities, which are entirely meant for defense.

Iran deployed its domestically-made UAVs, including Shahed drones, in retaliatory attacks against Israel during the regime’s military aggression against Iran back in June. 

It also lobbed dozens of missiles at the occupied territories. Air raid sirens were activated as soon as the missiles arrived, forcing settlers to head back to underground bunkers, where they have been spending most of their time those days.

Israeli media reported massive explosions in the heart of Tel Aviv, indicating that the missiles yet again managed to evade three-tier air defense systems to hit their intended targets.

Some phases of Operation True Promise III were carried out in the central part of the occupied Palestinian territories and Ben Gurion Airport, targeting military facilities and operational support centers of the Zionist regime’s army.

Meanwhile, several countries have begun manufacturing copies of Iran’s Shahed drone, which are not expensive but efficient and accurate, a leading American daily reports.

In a report, The Wall Street Journal said that different corporations in the United States, China, France and the UK are developing armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) modeled after Iran’s Shahed.

The United States and its allies are “competing to develop low-cost, long-range replica weapons,” it added.

The report also noted that models similar to the Shahed stood out among 18 types of U.S.-made drone prototypes displayed at an event held by the U.S. Department of War this summer.

Those models, it added, included LUCAS and Arrowhead made by SpectreWorks and Griffon Aerospace companies, respectively.

“The Shahed and its knockoffs have become so widespread that corporations such as Griffon and Sweden’s Saab are even selling target-practice UAVs resembling Iran’s munitions,” the report said.