(Tehran) The Islamic Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of Iran, announced Wednesday on their official website Sepah News the creation of a new medium-range missile, likely to reach Israel, sworn enemy of Tehran.
Posted at 8:43 a.m.
According to General Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, it is a strategic missile called Kheybarchékan (named after a victory of Muhammad’s supporters in the 7th century).
He unveiled the device during a visit to a surface-to-surface missile base of the Guardian Aerospace Forces, in the presence of General Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the aerospace department.
“Its maneuverability and extreme speed allow it to reach targets within a radius of 1,450 km”, specifies the site.
Of “local manufacture”, Kheybarchékan can pierce an anti-missile shield, according to Sepah News.
In 2019, Iran announced that it had successfully tested a cruise missile with a range of over 1,350 km.
On December 24, Tehran fired 16 ballistic missiles after five days of military maneuvers that Iranian generals said were a warning to Israel. Iran is about 1500 km from Israel’s borders.
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Iran has around 20 types of ballistic missiles as well as cruise missiles and drones. Their capacity varies. The Qiam-1 has a range of 800 km while that of the Ghadr-1 can reach 1800 km.
According to this British research institute in international relations, the priority in terms of armament for Iran is now the precision of its missiles.
On Monday, General Bagheri said his country “is more than self-sufficient in arms and equipment”, and added that it would become one of the biggest arms exporters in the world if US sanctions are lifted.