TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's defense minister says his country has drones far more advanced than the unmanned aircraft launched by Lebanon's Hezbollah and downed by Israel earlier this month.

Sunday's report by the official IRNA news agency appears similar to previous claims that Iranian drones have expanded capabilities and range, including the ability to reach Israeli airspace.

The IRNA report quotes Gen. Ahmad Vahidi as saying the drone by Iranian-backed Hezbollah was not the "latest Iranian technology, definitely." He did not elaborate.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has said the drone was manufactured in Iran and assembled in Lebanon.

Later, Iran claimed that Iranian-made surveillance drones had made dozens of apparently undetected flights into Israeli airspace from Lebanon in recent years. An Israeli official rejected the account.