WSJ: Iran mirrors Russia’s drone warfare tactics across Gulf

Iran’s operations, mirroring tactics used by Russia in Ukraine, targeted Arab Gulf states over the past weekend with hundreds of drone strikes, damaging US bases, critical infrastructure, and threatening regional air defence systems, The Wall Street Journal reports.

These strikes on key infrastructure are designed to exert psychological pressure on civilian populations while simultaneously inflicting economic damage, according to the outlet.

Iranian attack drones are small, difficult to intercept, and relatively easy to produce. While their physical damage is less than that of a large missile arsenal, they effectively target civilian airports, seaports, and other strategic sites. 

In some instances, Iran deployed large numbers of drones or combined drone and missile strikes to overwhelm the air defence systems of targeted countries.

Former Israeli military intelligence officer Danny Citrinowicz noted that Tehran’s primary advantage lies in the relative ease and effectiveness of producing weapons at scale.

“Their main advantage here is that mass production is relatively simple and effective, and they can fire it both from the sea and from land,” he stressed.

By Jeyhun Aghazada