Israel identifies head of IRGC’s drone command, warns about Iran’s nuclear progress

WASHINGTON, DC (Kurdistan 24) – Israel’s defense and foreign ministers briefed the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday about the recent drone strike on an Israeli-managed oil tanker, the Mercer Street, off the coast of Oman. Israel, the United States, and the United Kingdom have all blamed the attack on Iran.

Israeli Minister of Defense Benny Gantz and Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid explained to the Security Council that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has a command for drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles. 

That, in itself, is news, as it has never before been publicly disclosed that Iran has a UAV Command, even as Tehran has increasingly begun to use explosive drones, including in attacks on the Kurdistan Region.

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The Israeli ministers also identified the head of the IRGC’s UAV Command: Saeed Ara Jani. 

The Israelis held Jani responsible for last Thursday’s attack on the oil tanker, which killed its Romanian captain and a British security guard.

“Saeed Ara Jani plans and provides the training and equipment needed to conduct terror attacks in the region,” Gantz later tweeted. “He is joined by [the] commander of the IRGC’s Air Force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, in spreading terror across the Middle East.”

Saeed Ara Jani is the Head of the IRGC’s UAV Command. The UAV command conducted the attack on Mercer Street. Saeed Ara Jani plans and provides the training and equipment needed to conduct terror attacks in the region. pic.twitter.com/2uUnRLl6CJ

— בני גנץ - Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) August 4, 2021

“I emphasized to my international friends that now is the time for deeds – words are not enough,” Gantz added. “It is time for diplomatic, economic and even military deeds - otherwise the attacks will continue.”

The UK is leading the effort in New York to have the Security Council respond to the Iranian attack, and the Israeli presentation was part of a coordinated effort that includes the US, Romania, and Liberia, where the Mercer Street was registered. 

The UK is slated to present the matter to the Security Council in a closed-door session later this week.

Iran Moves Toward Nuclear Weapon

Gantz also warned the ambassadors of the member states of the Security Council about the progress that Iran is making in its nuclear program, saying that Tehran would soon be able to produce a nuclear weapon. 

Iran is now enriching uranium to 60 percent, “a grade needed only when preparing to build nuclear weapons,” Elliott Abrams, formerly Donald Trump’s Special Representative for Iran, wrote Wednesday in the National Review.

“Iran has crossed all the lines set in the last nuclear deal,” known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Gantz told the Security Council, “and today is just ten weeks away from acquiring weapons-grade materials necessary for a nuclear weapon.”

Asked about Gantz’s statement later on Wednesday, US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price declined to comment on an “intelligence assessment,” but responded by affirming the need for all parties to return to compliance with the JCPOA.

Top British General Calls for Restoring Deterrence against Iran

General Sir Nick Carter, Chief of the General Staff for the British Army, speaking to the BBC on Wednesday, sounded somewhat like Israel’s Defense Minister, as he stressed the need to “restore deterrence” vis-a-vis Iran. 

Saying that Iran had made a “big mistake” in attacking the Mercer Street, Carter affirmed, “What we need to be doing, fundamentally, is calling out Iran for its very reckless behavior.”

“It is behavior like that which leads to escalation, and that could very easily lead to miscalculation and would be very disastrous for all the peoples of the Gulf and the international community,” he stated.

It remains to be seen, however, what the Security Council will do in response to Tehran’s aggression. US officials have not spoken anywhere near as strongly as Gantz or even as strongly as Carter’s milder statement.