(Zero Hedge)—Iran on Monday is conducting live missiles drills across several areas and cities, with officials telling the world the military will remain steadfast in defending the country and that its missile program is strictly defensive.
The semi-official Fars news agency confirmed that missile tests were observed in multiple locations, among them Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad, Khorramabad and Mahabad. Videos were also widely circulated of missiles soaring through the air, visible from urban centers.
“Iran’s defensive capabilities are by no means an issue that can be discussed,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei stated Monday, at a moment of high tensions with Israel, which has denounced the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program.
The timing is interesting given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump days ago confirmedd they are scheduled to meet December 29 at the Mar-a-lago estate in Florida.
Netanyahu is expected to press his US counterpart on greenlighting possible new strikes on Iranian ballistic missile sites, which Israel says constitutes a threat to the whole region. The US would unlikely directly back such a plan especially at moment its eye is focused on Venezuela.
All of this has sparked concerns that Israel could see the new Iranian test launches as a direct threat, given hundreds of Iranian missiles and drones rained down on Israeli cities and bases during the June 12-day war.
Axios, for example, reports that “Israeli officials warned the Trump administration over the weekend that an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps missile exercise could be preparations for a strike on Israel, according to three Israeli and U.S. sources with knowledge of the issue.”
NEW: Missile-related activity reported across Iran, including loud sounds near Khorramabad and missile trails over Mashhad and other cities.
IRGC is likely holding a missile exercise. pic.twitter.com/vG7Y5O4jKA
— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 22, 2025
An Israeli official was cited as saying, “The chances for an Iranian attack are less than 50%, but nobody is willing to take the risk and just say it is only an exercise.”
And yet this is precisely what Tehran has now projecting – that it’s actions are ‘defensive’ in nature and that it does not act in the way of an aggressor.
A further alarming statement from the Axios report is in the following: “The sources said the biggest risk is a war between Israel and Iran will break as a result of a miscalculation with each side thinking the other plans to attack and try to preempt it.”
The June war itself began as a surprise attack by Israel, which the US supported with its own follow-up bombings of three nuclear sites. Tehran was on the very eve of the conflict engaged in good faith negotiations with Washington, and has since complained of the betrayal and obliteration of any shred of trust.
Between the lines: The sources said the biggest risk is a war between Israel and Iran will break as a result of a miscalculation with each side thinking the other plans to attack and try to preempt it https://t.co/y7NdE224nG
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) December 22, 2025
President Trump then touted that he oversaw a ceasefire, and likely US officials behind the scenes pressured Israeli to admit the complete ‘obliteration’ of Iran’s nuclear program, though this remains anything but certain or verified.
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