TEHRAN — Admiral Seyed Mahmoud Mousavi, Deputy Chief of Army Operations, says that the missions assigned to the secret bases of the Army are “very special.”

Speaking in a TV show on Saturday night, Mousavi talked about the secret UAV center of the Army named the 313 Strategic UAV Base, which was showed off on Saturday.

Armed Forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri and Army Commander-in-Chief Major General Seyed Abdolrahim Mousavi were present as the drone site was revealed. The secret drone facility is built 100 meters under the ground.

Mousavi said, “The missions that are assigned to the secret bases of the Army are very special and mainly operated abroad.” 

He went on to say, “These bases and similar bases are located in different parts of the country and have been operational. They have been operating for a long time.” 

The military official said General Bagheri's visit to the secret base was to evaluate the performance and capabilities of the Army in the area. 

“The Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran uses this base in accordance with its missions, and during this visit, General Bagheri evaluated the capabilities of the Army in the field of drones in one of these secret bases. As it was clear in the pictures, all the drones that were in this base were all operational and ready to carry out their assigned missions, and they fly and perform their assigned operations whenever they are needed,” he noted.

The Army official added that the drones used in this secret base are capable of carrying out highly advanced missions to deal devastating blows to the enemy if needed. 

Admiral Mousavi said, “Due to the very particular missions that have been assigned to these bases, the equipment that is kept secret in these bases should be hidden from the enemy and will be used when necessary.”

He added that the capabilities of the Armed Forces today are not comparable to the era of Sacred Defense.

“We have a high capability in the field of forces, for example in the field of electronic warfare and the production of drones, all these achievements have been attained after the victory of the Islamic Revolution. We did not have equipment in the Sacred Defense, but today we have advanced equipment. In the field of drones, we also produced drones that can easily identify and target distant marks. Today we have the potential to produce highly advanced manned aircraft and fighter jets.”

The Army official considered the combat capability of the Armed Forces incomparable with the era of Sacred Defense and said that in all areas of land, sea, air and air defense, there have been significant progress, but the special feature of drones is that it is proportional to all forces, and they could be used when necessary. 

Mousavi also described soldiers as the most important determining factor in the battle and said, “During the Sacred Defense, we saw that the warriors of the Army, IRGC and Basij showed the highest competence with the least facilities and achieved victory with the least equipment. Even today, the young people who are trained in the training centers of the Army and the IRGC are the followers of their past generations and have the precious baggage of Sacred Defense and defend the values of the Islamic Revolution with all their might.”

He then noted that the enemies did their best to limit Iran’s military and defense capabilities.

“But their efforts did not succeed, and today our defense and military capabilities are indigenous,” he concluded.