Iran has made steady advances in the design and production of military drones in recent years and has stepped up their transfer to militant groups across the Middle East as it seeks to shift the dynamics of battlefields from Yemen to Gaza. Those efforts now extended far beyond the region.

 Iran is now seeking to build its global clout and sell increasingly sophisticated weapons-capable drones commercially to other nations, including those that have been subject to various sanctions in recent years, like Venezuela and Sudan, according to Iranian news media, satellite images and defense experts inside and outside Iran. That has provided an important source of funds and political influence for Iran, which is itself isolated and struggling under U.S. financial restrictions.

 “Iran is increasingly becoming a global player in terms of drone exports,” said Seth Frantzman, a Jerusalem-based defense analyst and drone expert. The fact that newer drones, such as the Mohajer-6, are now being seen in places like the Horn of Africa shows that countries see them as a potential game-changer,” he added, referring to an advanced Iranian drone claimed to have a range of about 125 miles and the ability to carry precision-guided munitions.

 Tehran began drone development in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war. Despite crippling sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear and missile programs in recent years, it has managed to produce and field a vast array of military drones, used for both surveillance and attack, according to experts.

That program has become a major concern for Israel and the United States in recent years. Israel has targeted drone production and storage sites in its escalating shadow war with Tehran. And the U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement on July 21 that “the Iran-proliferated network of attack unmanned aerial systems,” or drones, was a key topic of discussion at a recent regional security meeting in Qatar.

 A United Nations embargo aimed at preventing Iran from selling and buying weapons expired in 2020, despite protests from the United States, which wanted it extended, removing a significant legal obstacle, analysts said, for Iran to export its drones and carve out its status as a global player in drone technology.

 Hossein Dalirian, a military analyst with close ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, posted a video on his YouTube channel in January in which he said that Iran was exporting drones to Ethiopia and Venezuela. “The Islamic Republic has long reached mass production level in the production of various drones including military surveillance and suicide drones and now has a very large stock,” Mr. Dalirian said by direct message. “Because the drones are effective and some countries have been enthusiastic about the drones, in recent years Iran has been exporting drones such as New Mohajer-2 (M2-N) and Mohajer-6 (M6) and even Ababil (AB-2).”

 Iran has both political and financial incentives to sell drones to such countries, as well as supplying them to proxy groups as part of its regional policy in the Middle East. The sales allow Tehran to build international links in defiance of Western efforts to isolate it and provide an additional source of revenue alongside oil sold in contravention of sanctions. “They have created this viable drone capacity, so it is no surprise that other countries are interested in obtaining such technologies,” said Farzin Nadimi, a military analyst and associate fellow at the Washington Institute who specializes in Iran’s defense industry. “Iranian drones should be taken seriously as a weapon,” he said.

 PRAY: Pray that Iran’s continual sale of drones to people with bad intentions will be stopped and peace will reign in the region.