Air force chief says Israeli drone operators ‘very busy suppressing’ Iran missile fire

By Emanuel Fabian

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21 June 2025, 6:20 pm Edit

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

IAF chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar speaks to drone operators, in a video released June 21, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Speaking to Israeli Air Force unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operators, IAF chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar says Iranian soldiers “don’t function” when the Israeli drones are overhead.

“We are very busy, with the UAV array to suppress the surface-to-surface missile fire. It’s not at zero, but it prevents a lot, and the Iranians are surprised by this,” Bar says in a video released by the IDF.

“We’re going from one command to another, expanding, and everywhere we see that the UAVs overhead, they [Iranian soldiers] don’t function,” he adds.