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As Iran engages in nuclear negotiations with the United States, Iranian state-affiliated Fars News Agency released a video on Tuesday purportedly showing what it claims is previously "unseen footage" of drone and missile preparations, as well as command center operations, related to "Operation True Promise 1." This operation refers to Iran's first direct attack on Israel, conducted between April 13 and 14, 2024, in retaliation for the assassination of senior Quds Force commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi in Damascus.
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Documentation of the preparation of the drones, missiles, and the command and operations room from the first Iranian attack on Israel
The footage depicts the assembly of drones and missiles within underground facilities, highlighting Iran's military capabilities.
A subsequent Iranian attack on Israel occurred on October 1, 2024, dubbed "Operation True Promise 2," following the deaths of key figures from Hamas, Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Israel responded with its own military actions but Iran was careful - and still is - to hide its vulnerabilities and failures.
On Sunday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a meeting with senior Iranian military officials that "the capabilities of the forces must be strengthened, including strengthening the strength of weapons and organizations. The forces are Iran's wall and the people's refuge against any aggression."
Benny Sabati, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), criticized the video as Iranian propaganda aimed at masking operational failures. He noted that Iran often crafts narratives to present events favorably, regardless of public skepticism. "This is how Iranian propaganda works to compensate for the failure," he said.
According to Sabati: "They tell stories as they want. They don't care even if the Iranian public itself doesn't believe them. The Iranians tend to pat themselves on the back, and that's compensation for failures. I remember cases like this from the 1990s as well. They would tell stories about operations that didn't happen and weren't created."
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Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during a visit to northern Gaza, addressed a post by Khamenei titled: "Why the Zionist regime must be eliminated from the Middle East." Netanyahu highlighted the contradiction of Iran advocating for Israel's destruction while simultaneously engaging in negotiations with the U.S. He asserted Israel's commitment to its survival and called for the dismantling of Iran's nuclear program and its support for terrorism.
Netanyahu later released another video - this time in English - in which he addressed the world and especially the American public, in the wake of the conflicting messages being conveyed by senior Trump administration officials regarding the talks.
"Here you have it: the ruler of Iran is once again openly declaring that his goal is to destroy the State of Israel," he said. "The most blatant thing is that he is announcing this while he is, ostensibly, conducting peace negotiations with the United States. Well, Israel will not disappear. What must disappear is Iran's axis of terror and its nuclear program - not only for the sake of Israel, but for the sake of the entire region and for peace in the world."