Iran is preparing for the strong possibility that Israel – with or without the United States – will attack its nuclear development plants sometime this year.
The Iranian Army and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) aerial defense forces have been conducting a joint war game since January 7 – but on Sunday morning, the drill was shifted to Iran’s northern and western sectors.
The air defense units drilled on a plan to protect the Fordow nuclear site in Qom province, and the Arak nuclear facility in Khondab, part of Markazi province, according to the IRGC-linked Tasnim News Agency.
Last week, the IRGC Aerospace Force employed point-defense tactics to protect a nuclear site in Natanz against aerial threats and possible electronic warfare, the news outlet reported.
The Iranian forces also activated Dey-9 air defense missile system to practice intercepting a bunker buster dropped from a warplane.
According to the report, the domestically produced aerial defense system was able to track, intercept and destroy a bunker buster munition in less than 15 seconds, at 17 kilometers (10.6 miles) from the nuclear site.
New drones and missiles are being tested in the exercises as Iranian leaders mull the possibility that incoming US President Donald Trump could green light an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites.
The drills carried out this weekend come as part of a two-month long military exercise, according to Iranian state media.
