Iran is waging a mass drone campaign across the Middle East, unleashing waves of low-cost, one-way attack drones also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), against Western-linked targets to impose "exponential cost on the U.S.," a defense expert has warned.
As Tehran reportedly launched thousands of Shahed drones across the region and Iranian state media shared footage of underground stockpiles, Cameron Chell, CEO of drone maker and tech company Draganfly, said Iran's strategy is designed to force high-end defenses to counter cheap aerial threats.
"Even a hundred of these drones in the hands of a decentralized unit can cause terror in a neighboring state like never before imagined," Chell told Fox News Digital. "The Iranians cannot win the war with these drones, but like the [communist] Viet Cong [during the Vietnam War], they have an asymmetric capability that can prolong this war and create political pressure."
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"Iran can drive terror in unimaginable ways and drive exponential costs on the U.S. side, having to target these small, very hard-to-detect drone units," he added.
Chell’s warning comes as tensions spiraled following Saturday's joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran targeting nuclear sites, missile facilities and leadership that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several commanders.
The Iranian drones have proved deadly, having killed six U.S. service members in an attack on a tactical center in Kuwait earlier this week.
A CIA station in the U.S. Embassy in the Saudi capital of Riyadh was struck in an Iranian drone attack Tuesday, causing a limited fire but no reported injuries.
In Bahrain, drones reportedly identified as Iranian Shahed models smashed into the upper floors of the Era View Tower in Manama, about one mile from a U.S. Navy base.
An Iranian drone also struck a parking lot outside the U.S. Consulate in Dubai, while the United Arab Emirates said it intercepted Iranian missiles and drone attacks targeting the country.
"Based on the engine sound, the apparent attack angle and the implied speed, to the best of my knowledge, this was a Shahed-class one-way attack drone," Chell said of the Dubai consulate attack video before suggesting the drone footage showed "a Shahed 191."
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Fars News Agency also released footage purporting to show scores of attack drones stockpiled in vast underground tunnels in Iran.
The video appeared to show rows of triangular-shaped drones on rocket launchers, missiles lined up, four to a launcher vehicle and walls adorned with Iranian flags and photographs of Khamenei. Outlets noted that the video’s timing and location remain unverified.
"It is hard to confirm that Iran has the capability now to produce these drones in these volumes during wartime," Chell said of the stockpiling footage.
"To the extent they were producing these in those numbers, a more-than-significant portion would have been for delivery to Russia — which does not seem impossible. That said, the drones in the underground propaganda video are Shahed 191 drones."
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A new report from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace also underscored Chell’s comments on expense and range.
"Right now, Iran is using a mixture of ballistic missiles and attack drones," said senior fellow Dara Massicot. "The methods are effective, but targeting drones in this way is resource-intensive and expensive, and it will drain certain types of interceptors quickly."
"Ground-based air defense interceptor missiles are not infinite, and the United States and its partners and allies have had stockpile challenges in this area for years," she added.
Another senior fellow, Steve Feldstein, added, "An important point is that the world is entering a new age of drone war as unmanned aircraft are proliferating on the battlefield in major conflicts and smaller ones."
