00:02These are the remnants of an Iranian ballistic missile that struck northern Iraq during the
00:08first six weeks of the war. Known as the Zulfagar, this 34-foot-long missile slams into targets at
00:15hypersonic speeds with a warhead that weighs up to 1,100 pounds.
00:21With a range of about 600 miles and a heavy warhead, which is used to strike targets deep
00:29in the region.
00:30Velt's chief correspondent Ibra Naber got exclusive access to this wreckage in northern
00:36Iraq where Kurdish forces were collecting weapons used by Iran.
00:41So far, Iran has attacked the region with 700 missiles and drones, like this Shahed-136,
00:49which has been Iran's mainstay weapon since the U.S. and Israel launched the war in late
00:54February.
00:55The Shahed can cost as little as $20,000 to produce, less than a third of the roughly
01:01$70,000 price of the American Switchblade 600.
01:06Iran unveiled the jet-powered Hadid 110 drone in 2025.
01:11It's much faster than the Shahed drone and that's why it's harder to intercept.
01:19The Kurdish forces showed Naber, the remnants of another Iranian ballistic missile known
01:25as the Kaibar.
01:27This footage shows the damage they're capable of.
01:31The U.S. military says it has managed to strike more than 13,000 Iranian targets since
01:36the war began.
01:37But Iran has plenty of firepower left.
01:41Around half of its missile launchers are still intact, according to media reports, and Iran
01:48continues to possess thousands of long-range kamikaze drones.
01:52Kurdish forces say they have diffused and collected more than 200 bombs.
01:57After every Iranian strike, specialized teams of the Kurdish security forces are deployed
02:04to assess the damage and identify the Iranian weapon.
02:09This job is very risky because there is always the danger of a so-called double-tap strike, which
02:16means a second strike minutes after the first one.
02:20Kurdish security forces in Erbil say they are almost entirely dependent on Western air defenses,
02:27like the Patriot missile defense system, the C-RAM gun system, Raytheon's Coyote drone,
02:34and missiles and rockets fired from the F-16 Fighting Falcon, all of which have been hunting and
02:41attacking Iran's drones since the war began.
02:44But the defenses didn't prevent drone strikes in Erbil, where both the U.S. consulate and
02:50military installation were hit.
02:53Iran attacked the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq with more than 700 long-range drones and
03:01missiles since the end of February.
03:03The Kurdish security forces diffused and collected dozens of mostly unexploded bombs in the region.
03:10All this shows the scale and intensity of this Iranian campaign in the Kurdistan region.
03:19The first few weeks of the war with Iran may have delivered an important lesson to U.S. forces.
03:26The key lesson, the most painful lesson, is that even the most advanced military in the world,
03:31the United States, cannot fully protect against modern drone warfare.
03:36It's very hard to defend against these large-scale drone attacks, especially when they are combined
03:43with missile attacks, and why all this is becoming a global threat.
03:50As the fragile ceasefire approaches its second week, the world now watches the Strait of Hormuz,
03:57where U.S. destroyer ships are setting the stage for minesweeping operations, clearing the
04:02waterway of any naval mines laid by Iran.
Comments