Iran on Tuesday fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at Israel, using a range of weapons that have long alarmed the West, in response to Israel’s campaign against the Lebanese Hezbollah group. .
The attack comes five months after an attack in April that was the first direct Iranian attack on Israel.
Ballistic missiles constitute an important part of the arsenal at Tehran’s disposal.
The US Director of National Intelligence’s Office said that Iran is armed with the largest number of ballistic missiles in the region.
Here are some details:
The semi-official Iranian Students News Agency in April published a diagram of nine Iranian missiles that it said were capable of reaching Israel.
Among these missiles are “Sejil,” which can travel more than 17,000 kilometers per hour and with a range of up to 2,500 kilometers, “Khaybar,” which has a range of up to 2,000 kilometers, and “Haj Qasim,” which has a range of 1,400 kilometers and bears the name of Quds Force Commander Qassem. Soleimani, who was killed in an American drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020.
The Arms Control Association, a nongovernmental organization based in Washington, D.C., says Iran’s short- and medium-range ballistic missiles include the Shahab-1, which has an estimated range of about 300 kilometers, the Zulfiqar (700 kilometers), the Shahab-3 (800-1,000 kilometers), and the Imad. -1, which is being developed (with a range of up to two thousand kilometers), and Sajjil, which is also being developed (1,500-2,500 kilometers).
Fabian Hintz, a Berlin-based expert on Iran’s missile arsenal at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said his assessment is that Iran launched a range of solid and liquid-fueled missiles, based on videos of the launches posted on social media as well as the range to Israel.
He added that the solid-fuel missiles, which are the most advanced, were launched from inclined mobile launchers, while the liquid-fuel missiles were launched from vertical launchers.
He stated that three solid-fuel missiles launched on Tuesday may be “Hajj Qasim,” “Khyber Shekhan,” and “Fatah 1.”
He added that the liquid-propellant missiles said to have been launched from Isfahan were likely “Imad,” “Badr,” and “Khorramshahr.”
According to the semi-official Iranian Mehr News Agency, it used its Fateh 1 high-speed missile for the first time during its attack on Israel on Tuesday, according to what the network reported. CNN.
Fateh is considered the first locally produced hypersonic missile, which the Iranian army revealed last year, saying it can travel at speeds of up to 15 times the speed of sound.
Iran says its ballistic missiles are an important force for deterrence and retaliation against the United States, Israel and other potential regional targets. Tehran denies seeking to possess nuclear weapons.
A 2023 report by Behnam Ben Talebloo, a senior fellow at the US-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Iran continues to develop underground missile silos equipped with transportation and launch systems, as well as underground missile production and storage centers.
The report added that in June 2020, Iran launched its first ballistic missile from underground.
“Years of reverse-engineering missiles and also producing different classes of missiles taught Iran to stretch airframes and build them with lighter materials to increase the missiles’ range,” the report said.
Last June, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that Iran unveiled what officials described as its first hypersonic ballistic missile. Hypersonic missiles can travel at speeds at least five times the speed of sound and on complex trajectories, making them difficult to intercept.
The Arms Control Association says Iran’s missile program is largely based on North Korean and Russian designs and has benefited from Chinese assistance.
Iran also has cruise missiles such as the KH-55 air-launched missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads with a range of three thousand kilometers, and modern anti-ship missiles with a range of 300 kilometers and capable of carrying a warhead weighing one thousand kilograms.
Why does Russia need Iranian missiles?
Washington warns that Iran has delivered short-range missiles to Russia that it could use to strike Ukrainian territory within weeks.
Regional attacks
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard relied on missiles in January when it said it attacked an Israeli intelligence headquarters in the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region, and said it fired on ISIS fighters in Syria.
Iran also announced the launch of missiles at two bases of a Baloch armed group in neighboring Pakistan.
Saudi Arabia and the United States said they believed Iran was behind a drone and missile attack on major Saudi oil facilities in 2019, something Tehran denied.
In 2020, Iran launched missile attacks on US-led forces in Iraq, including Al-Asad Air Base, in response to a US drone attack on Iranian commander Soleimani, whose killing raised fears of a broader conflict in the Middle East.
Supporting the Houthis in Yemen
The United States accuses Iran of arming the Yemeni Houthi group, which targeted ships in the Red Sea and Israel itself with missile attacks during the Gaza war, in a campaign they say aims to support the Palestinians. Tehran denies arming the Houthis.
Reuters reported on September 24, citing Western and regional sources, that Iran mediated secret talks between Russia and the Houthis to transfer anti-ship missiles to the Yemeni group.
In 2022, the Houthis said they launched a number of ballistic missiles and drones at the UAE. American-made Patriot interceptor missiles thwarted one of these missile attacks, which targeted a base hosting American forces in the UAE.
Support Hezbollah
The Lebanese Hezbollah group says it has the ability inside Lebanon to convert thousands of missiles into precision missiles and produce drones.
Last year, the late Nasrallah said that Hezbollah was able to convert ordinary missiles into precision missiles in cooperation with “experts from the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Hezbollah’s arsenal.. What weapons does the Lebanese militia possess?
The ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah is escalating, after the Israeli announcement of an incursion into southern Lebanon on Tuesday, targeting the organization’s “infrastructure” in the region.
Syria
Iran has transferred domestic precision-guided missiles to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war, according to Israeli and Western intelligence officials.
Iran also moved some of its missile production capabilities to underground complexes in Syria where Assad’s army and other forces loyal to Tehran learned how to make missiles, according to the same sources.
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