IRGC Showcases Missiles Alongside U.S. Firms, Military Personnel At Doha Exhibition

IRGC Continues Transferring Missiles And Drones Continue To Terrorist Proxies

(New York, N.Y.) — This week, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) exhibited models of its missile arsenal at the Doha International Maritime Defense Exhibition & Conference, which was attended by the Commander of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, Vice Admiral Brad Cooper. Iran’s Defense Ministry showcased other arms as well. Representatives from no fewer than 11 U.S. companies including General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, Northop Grumman, and Raytheon were also billed as exhibitors.

The display of weapons comes as the Biden Administration is considering whether to revoke the IRGC’s designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) as part of the new nuclear deal. Such a possibility has created alarm among countries in the region who endure the brunt of the brutality inflicted by the IRGC and their sponsored terrorist organizations through missiles and drone warfare. Qatar, however, which hosted the March 21-23 exhibition, has not faced an IRGC threat. Further, it protested the FTO designation and found itself under investigation by the U.S. Department of State last year for providing financial support to the group.

Most recently, the IRGC attacked the Iraqi city of Erbil last week with dozens of ballistic missiles, which targeted Americans in the region, and has continued to transfer sophisticated weaponry to terrorist proxies including weaponized drones.

 “It is absurd and insulting that Qatar, which hosts the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East and was recently designated as a U.S. major non-NATO ally, would permit a terrorist organization that has killed more than 600 U.S. military personnel to exhibit portions of its arsenal at its premier defense show. Doha’s arrogance is shameful—especially when it is providing a platform for the IRGC at the precise moment Tehran is targeting Americans for killing,” said United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace. “Civilians throughout the region are suffering from the terror wrought by the IRGC and the proxy forces it funds, arms, and trains. Governments around the world, including the U.S., should be stepping up efforts to reduce the IRGC’s reach rather than paving the way for it to sow more death and terror.

“Iran’s participation in this exhibition also underscores the danger of the expiration of the U.N. arms embargo on Iran in October 2020 under U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The U.S. government must sanction those governments and companies who decide to buy arms from Tehran.”

In the past decade, Iran has accelerated its efforts to develop indigenously designed and manufactured weaponized UAV systems and to transform its ISR drones into versatile platforms with integrated or suicide attack capabilities. In tandem with its missile arsenal, drones augment Iran’s lack of conventional long-range airstrike capabilities and Iran has used UAVs in both offensive and retaliatory air-to-ground attacks. As its drone forces have grown in sophistication, they increasingly give Iran the ability to carry out strikes with precision. The threat increases as Iran continues to experiment with cruise or ballistic missile attacks in an effort to probe and beat air defense systems.

To read United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)’s resource The Iranian Drone Threat, please click here.

To read UANI’s profile on the Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC, please click here. 

To read UANI’s profile on Iran’s Defense Minister, please click here.