Amid soaring tensions in the Red Sea region, Newsweek reported on Thursday that Iran has positioned advanced kamikaze drones in Yemen that could be used to attack Israel or other countries.

“The Iranians have delivered to their Houthi proxies in Yemen advanced UAVs,” an anonymous expert, who provided satellite images of the drones, told Newsweek. “They are forward deploying or prepositioning these drones in order to stage an attack against a variety of targets they have within range.”

There have been previous reports of suicide drones in the possession of the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, but these drones, identified as Shahed-136 loitering munitions, are far more advanced and powerful and can reach countries as far as 2,000 to 2,200 kilometers (1,240 to 1,370 miles) away.

“What [Iran] is trying to achieve is plausible deniability, as in being able to strike either a US, Saudi, Gulf, or Israeli target and then having the strike traced back to Yemen, and hoping for deniability against any kind of retribution,” the expert elaborated.

Also, on Thursday, Iran fired cruise missiles as part of a naval drill in the Gulf of Oman.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)