Iran successfully tests 'suicide' drones amid tense stand-off with US

Iran said it successfully tested long-range unmanned “suicide” aircraft during its first major drone exercises this week, amid a tense stand-off with the US.

The drones, also known as loitering munitions, were flown for 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) near the Gulf of Oman, the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency reported, quoting the army’s public relations office. They have a range of 4,000 kilometers, it said.

The two-day drills started on Tuesday and also involved successful tests of quadcopter drones capable of dropping small cluster munitions, ISNA said. The military exercises took place as Iran vowed to defend itself against any US military action in the final weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency. Tensions between the long-time foes intensified around the Jan. 3 anniversary of the assassination of Iran’s top general in a US drone strike.

‘US must pay $70-billion for lost oil revenue’

Iran said the US owes it $70 billion compensation for income lost as a result of sanctions on its oil exports, the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported on its website, quoting an adviser to the Supreme Leader.

The payment is a prerequisite for President-elect Joe Biden’s return to the nuclear deal that Donald Trump abandoned in 2018, Kamal Kharrazi, chairman of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, which advises Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said.

Will avenge Soleimani ‘in your house’: Quds to US 

 The head of Iran’s elite Quds Force said Iran may take revenge for the US killing of his predecessor Qassem Soleimani “in your house,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.