Iran unveils ‘its first hypersonic ballistic missile’ which ‘can bypass Israel’s Iron Dome’

Iran on Tuesday presented what officials described as its first domestically-made hypersonic ballistic missile, the official IRNA news agency reported, an announcement likely to heighten Western concerns about Tehran’s missile capabilities.

Iran’s state media published photos of the missile named Fattah – or “Conqueror” in Farsi – at a ceremony attended by President Ebrahim Rahisi and commanders of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.

“The precision-guided Fattah hypersonic missile has a range of 1,400 km (870 miles) and is capable of penetrating all defense shields,” said Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guards’ aerospace force, according to Iranian state media.

Hypersonic missiles can fly at least five times faster than sound and on a complex trajectory, making them difficult to intercept.

Last year, the Islamic Republic said it had built a hypersonic ballistic missile that can maneuver in and out of the atmosphere.

Iranian state media released photos of the missile named Fattah – or “Conqueror” in Farsi – at a ceremony attended by President Ebrahim Rahisi and commanders of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards

Iran on Tuesday presented what officials describe as its first domestically-made hypersonic ballistic missile

State TV said Iran’s Fattah missile could target “the enemy’s advanced anti-missile systems and represents a major generation leap in the missile field,” without providing evidence to support the claim.

“It can evade the most advanced anti-ballistic missile systems of the United States and the Zionist regime, including Israel’s Iron Dome,” Iranian state television said.

Fattah’s top speed reached mach 14 levels (15,000 mph), it added.

Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, can pose critical challenges to missile defense systems because of their speed and maneuverability.

Despite opposition from the US and Europe, the Islamic Republic has said it will further develop its defensive missile program. However, Western military analysts say that Iran sometimes exaggerates its missile capabilities.

In November, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh of the Revolutionary Guards claimed that Iran had made a hypersonic missile, without providing any evidence.

That claim came amid nationwide protests that followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September following her arrest by the country’s vice squad.

And last month, Iran claimed it had successfully launched a ballistic missile with a potential range of 2,000 km.

At the time, state television aired a few seconds of footage of what it said was the launch of an upgraded version of Iran’s Khoramshahr 4 ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 km (1,243 mi) and capable of carrying a weight of 1,500 kg (3,300 miles). pound) warhead.

Pictured: A fourth-generation Khorramshahr ballistic missile undergoes testing at an undisclosed location in Iran in May

Last month, Iran claimed it had successfully launched a ballistic missile with a potential range of 2,000 km (pictured)

The Khorramshahr-4 is named after an Iranian city that was the scene of heavy fighting during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s. Iraq captured the city in the oil-rich southwestern province of Khuzestan at the start of the war, but Iran retook it more than a year later.

Iran, which has one of the largest missile programs in the Middle East, says its weapons are capable of reaching the bases of arch-enemies Israel and the United States in the region.

Concerns about Iran’s ballistic missiles contributed to then-US President Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to withdraw from Tehran’s 2015 six-power nuclear pact.

Trump reimposed US sanctions on Iran after exiting the nuclear pact, prompting Tehran to resume previously banned nuclear work and reviving fears in the US, Europe and Israel that Iran would seek a nuclear bomb. Iran has consistently denied any such ambition.

Indirect talks between Tehran and the administration of US President Joe Biden to salvage the nuclear deal have stalled since last September.

Israel, which refuses to recognize the Islamic Republic, is resisting efforts by world powers to revive the Tehran nuclear deal and has long threatened military action if diplomacy fails.

China is supposed to be chasing the guns, as is America. Russia claims to already have the weapons in use and has said it has used them on the battlefield in Ukraine.