Iran Unveils Locally Made Ballistic, Cruise Missiles

Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami announced on Thursday the local production of a surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a range of 1,400 kilometers, as well as a cruise missile. This puts all of Israel and most of the Arabian Peninsula within range and defies a US demand that Tehran halt its missile program. “The surface-to-surface missile, called ‘Martyr Qasem Soleimani,’ has a range of 1,400 km and the cruise missile, called ‘Martyr Abu Mahdi,’ has a range of over 1,000 km,” Hatami said in a televised speech. Soleimani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force, and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed in January in a US drone strike near Baghdad airport. A UN-imposed arms embargo against Iran is due to expire in October. A US attempt to indefinitely extend that embargo was resoundingly defeated in the Security Council on August 14. Tensions between Tehran and Washington have been high since 2018, when US President Donald Trump withdrew American support for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The agreement, between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States – plus Germany), limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting sanctions.