Azernews.Az

Iran claimed on Monday it has pictures of highly protected sites in Israel, taken from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) launched by the Lebanese Hezbollah group on October 6, the head of Iran's parliamentary defense commission Esmail Kossari told Arab-language channel Al-Alyam, RIA Novosti reported.

"The UAV took images in real time and we have high-resolution images of Israel," he said. The UAV was later shot down by the Israeli Air Force over the Negev Desert, he added.

The Ahyub UAV entered Israeli airspace not far from Gaza, and flew for around half an hour close to Israel's Dimona Nuclear Research Institute before being shot down by a fighter jet, which filmed its attack.

The Israel Defense Force claimed it had detected the UAV over the Mediterranean Sea well before it entered Israeli airspace and shot it down near Mount Hebron, the Jerusalem Post said.

Iran also has UAVs capable of carrying out strike missions, Kossari said. "So we can say if Israel carries out any aggression against us, we will reply on its territory."

Iran's Defense Minister General Akhmad Vahidi said on Sunday that Iran has much more advanced UAVs than the one shot down over Israel.