Drone warfare between Iran and the US

伊朗与美国之间的无人机战

What in the World

2026-03-13

10 分钟
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单集简介 ...

The US and Israel first launched strikes on Iran two weeks ago. In response, Iran has launched more than 2,000 drones at targets across the Middle East, towards Israel and Gulf countries with US military bases. We’ve seen attacks on oil tankers, airports, and even luxury hotels and banks. The drones are causing considerable damage across the region considering they have a simple design and are relatively cheap to produce. The Shahed 136 long-range drone, which is manufactured in Iran, is estimated to cost between $20,000 to $50,000. Iran is thought to have mass-produced tens of thousands of the Shahed drones before the war, but we don’t know how much of that stockpile remains intact after days of US and Israeli strikes. The BBC’s Bernd Debusmann Jr explains why Iran is using these drones and why they are expensive to counter. We look to Ukraine, which has developed its own cheap drones to down Russian ones. And we discuss how Iran’s stockpiles of these drones could play a big factor in how long the war lasts. Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Iqra Farooq Producers: Julia Ross-Roy and Benita Barden Editor: Verity Wilde
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  • That sort of moment has played out so many times during the US-Israeli war with Iran so far.

  • The US and Israel first launched strikes on Iran two weeks ago and the US base group human rights activists in Iran have reported over 1,800 people have been killed in Iran,

  • mostly civilians.

  • In response,

  • Iran has fired thousands of drones towards Israel and Gulf countries with US military bases.

  • Over a thousand drones were fired at the UAE in just one 24-hour period.

  • We learned just a short time ago that three ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz were targeted by suspected Iranian drones.

  • There's been another Iranian drone attack at Dubai's international airport.

  • We've seen attacks on oil tankers, airports, even hotels.

  • So in this episode, we're going to find out how Iran and the US are using drones,

  • how much they cost to make, and how they're changing the way the war is fought.