The Iranian regime has announced the development of a cruise missile with a range of 1,650 km

Iran has developed a cruise missile with a range of 1,650 kilometers, A senior Revolutionary Guards commander said Friday, in a move likely to raise concerns in the West after Russia’s use of Iranian drones in the war in Ukraine.

“Our cruise missile with a range of 1,650 km has been added to the missile arsenal of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he told state television. Admiral Hajizadeh, head of the Aerospace Force of the Revolutionary Guards.

Television aired what it said was the first video showing the new cruise missile To install Paveh.

Iran has expanded its missile program, especially its ballistic missiles, in defiance of opposition from the United States and expressions of concern from European countries. Tehran says the program is purely defensive and deterrent in nature.

Iran said it supplied drones to Moscow before the war in Ukraine. Russia has used drones to attack power plants and civilian infrastructure.

In November, the Pentagon said the United States was skeptical of reports quoting Hajizadeh as saying Iran had developed a hypersonic ballistic missile.

On this occasion, the semi-official news agency tasnimciting the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Commander, had reported that Iran had built a hypersonic ballistic missile for the first time.

“This missile has high speed and can maneuver in and out of the atmosphere. It can attack the enemy’s advanced anti-missile systems and marks a great generational leap in the field of missiles,” Commander Amir Ali said. Hajizadeh.

The bone hypersonic missiles at least they can fly five times faster than the speed of sound and in a complex trajectory, which makes them difficult to intercept.

However, Iran would not have tested such a missile And while the Islamic Republic has developed a large domestic arms industry in the face of international sanctions and embargoes, Western military analysts say Iran sometimes exaggerates its weapons capacity.

Concerns over Iran’s ballistic missiles, however, contributed to the United States’ decision in 2018, under then-President Donald Trump, to withdraw from the nuclear pact Tehran signed with world powers in 2015.

A few days before the announcement, Iran also said it had tested the Ghaem 100its first three-stage space launch vehicle, which would be capable of placing 80kg satellites into orbit 500km above the Earth’s surface, according to state media.

(With information from Reuters)

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