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Iranian drill simulates US invasion near Tehran

On May 13, 2026, Israel Hayom, an Israeli news site that publishes in English, ran Neta Bar's article Iranian drill simulates US invasion near Tehran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is Iran's armed force separate from the regular army. Bar writes that the Guard practiced for an American ground invasion near Tehran, and then says its only real ground fight with US troops on Iranian soil was a failed try to stop a rescue. An American family should care because one part is a practice invasion and the other part is a claim that Americans already moved on foot inside Iran.

Background for new readers: On 28 February 2026 the United States and Israel began a joint air war on Iran. The Pentagon calls its part Operation Epic Fury; Israel calls its part Operation Roaring Lion. It came eight months after a shorter war in June 2025, when US bombers hit Iran's nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. The question running through this section is whether the air war turns into American soldiers fighting on Iranian soil. This article is filed under Americans on Iranian Soil; the full article index lists every article on this shelf.

Evidence rating: MODERATE. The rating covers the Revolutionary Guard drill near Tehran, simulating a US invasion, as Israel Hayom reports it. The article's passage on the April rescue by helicopter and on foot is the reporter's own; earlier Israel Hayom reports, citing President Trump, The New York Times, and Fox News, describe the same ground rescue in southwestern Iran.

What the article says​

Bar writes that the Revolutionary Guard held an unusual exercise near Tehran on Tuesday, simulating an American ground invasion. Forces practiced striking US helicopters and firing on advancing troops. Images released by the Guard, the article says, showed fighters firing RPG rockets, using light mortars, training with sniper fire, and riding motorcycles and pickup trucks across open ground. A video showed an exploding drone used to strike a banner depicting an American helicopter.

The article quotes Brig. Gen. Hassan Hazanzadeh, commander of the exercise and of the Tehran-area Guard force named after Muhammad Rasulallah. The article calls that unit the Greater Tehran Force. That name means the Guard command for the Tehran area. It is not a map of any other country's borders. Hazanzadeh said the planned scenarios had been drilled and assessed, including individual and team tactics for attacking the enemy in any terrain. He said a goal was to improve the ability to counter any move by what the article quotes him calling the "American-Zionist enemy." He said the five-day exercise, run around the clock in areas around Tehran, had met its objectives.

Bar then says that, despite the commander's confidence, the Guard's only significant ground combat with the US military on Iranian soil ended in what Bar calls a stinging humiliation. The article says Guard forces tried to capture an American pilot who came down in the south of the country and failed to reach him. It says they also failed to intercept the rescue force sent to extract him.

the large rescue force dispatched to extract him, which operated by helicopter and on foot deep inside Iranian territory.

Those words are part of one sentence in Neta Bar's article in Israel Hayom, published May 13, 2026. The page does not say when that rescue was, and it does not name the pilot.

What other reporting adds​

The rescue Bar mentions, from the US side. In September 2026 the head of US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, described the rescue to CBS's 60 Minutes. As an RT write-up of that segment reports it: "More than 90 US service members were ultimately deployed on the ground, while several hundred personnel were in the air and several thousand supported the operation." Cooper "described them as the first acknowledged US 'boots on the ground' in Iran in 46 years." (as pasted by @rbg4lif on X, 14 September 2026; research capture: twitter/t49__v581.md). That supports Bar's point that US forces operated on the ground deep inside Iran during the rescue, while describing it as a recovery, not a ground campaign.

The same Guard commander, in September. An X account summarizing Iran's volunteer campaign named "Gen. Hassan Hassanzadeh" as the Tehran Revolutionary Guard chief and said he claimed more than 600,000 people had registered and more than one million were expected to train. The same account cautioned: "These figures are largely self-reported by Iranian officials and state media, and are contested." (@theinformant_x on X, 18 September 2026; research capture: twitter/t48__v571.md). The spelling differs from this article's "Hazanzadeh"; the captures treat them as the same Tehran commander.

Iran's leaders kept daring a landing. In September, Mohsen Rezaee, then described as secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said: "Why don't they deploy airborne divisions? Why don't American ground forces enter Iran? Why do they only bomb from the sky and then leave?" (@maxosintintel on X, 20 September 2026; research capture: twitter/t13__v145.md).

What it shows​

By May 2026 Iran was rehearsing a fight against American troops near its capital, and an Israeli paper reported it alongside the real rescue in which Americans had already fought on Iranian ground. Both sides were treating a US ground war as the next stage. The Pentagon's plans reported in March, and the uranium raid prepared in June, point the same way. See Americans Already on Iranian Soil and Kharg Island and the Uranium Raid.

Check it yourself​

The two earlier Israel Hayom reports listed above were opened while writing this page. This May 13 article does not say they are its source. Read them as a separate check.

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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