Iran displays new military tech as Nuclear talks loom

Iran's regular army staged an annual parade on Friday to celebrate the national Army Day. The day celebrates Iran’s regular military, not its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, whose expeditionary forces operate across the wider Mideast and aid Iranian-allied militia groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah. President Masoud Pezeshkian praised the armed forces for their technological progress. "In air, on ground and at sea, in drones and other necessary equipment that the enemy didn't even think of, our military forces have managed to acquire necessary technology," he said addressing the forces.

Pezeshkian refrained from commenting on the ongoing negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, as well as the country's nuclear program — a sign of caution ahead of the high-stakes talks set to resume in Rome on Saturday. The stakes of the negotiations couldn’t be higher for the two nations closing in on half a century of enmity. U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly has threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.