SAEDNEWS: Iran’s navy and IRGC conducted consecutive large-scale drills involving missiles, drones, and naval units, causing temporary airspace closures, flight suspensions, and widespread alarm in Israel.
On Thursday, August 21, 2025, at noon, the Iranian Navy concluded its large-scale missile drill, “Sustainable Power 1404,” after successfully achieving all pre-planned objectives. However, from the early hours of Friday, August 22, reports began to circulate regarding the launch of a new round of military exercises by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
According to Tabnak and several domestic outlets, these IRGC drills are of a combined nature, including both missile and drone operations. The Fars News Agency also reported that the western section of Iranian airspace had been closed until 2:30 a.m. due to the exercises.
Previously, in separate NOTAMs, areas in eastern Iran — including North Khorasan, Razavi Khorasan, and South Khorasan provinces — were designated as military zones for live-fire drills and other activities lasting until the end of the summer.
At the same time, Al Jazeera, citing Iraqi sources at Baghdad International Airport, reported that flights on the Baghdad–Tehran route had been temporarily suspended due to the exercises in Iranian airspace. These reports have sparked panic across the occupied territories, with some unofficial sources even claiming that Israel’s Home Front Command had ordered the evacuation of Ben Gurion Airport.
During yesterday’s Navy drill, a wide range of short- to long-range missiles were fired, including the Nasir and Qadir cruise missiles, the Qader coastal and anti-ship missile, as well as the Bavar-5 kamikaze drone. The exercises, conducted across the northern Indian Ocean and the Sea of Oman, involved a variety of surface and subsurface vessels, aerial units, coastal missile batteries, sea-based missile sites, and electronic warfare units — all of which successfully executed their assigned scenarios.
