TEHRAN \u2013 February 10 (ONLINE): Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Wednesday announced the development of a surface-to-surface missile whose stated range would put arch-foe Israel within reach.<\/p>\n
The Guards’ Sepahnews website said the missile was named the Khaybarchekan after a victorious battle fought by the Prophet Mohammed in the seventh century.<\/p>\n
Armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri described it as a strategic, “long-range” missile.<\/p>\n
Sepahnews said the missile has a range of 1,450 kilometres (about 900 miles), runs on solid fuel and is capable of penetrating anti-missile systems.<\/p>\n
It was unveiled during a visit to a surface-to-surface missile base of the Guards’ air force, with the chief of the aerospace department Amirali Hajizadeh present.<\/p>\n
“Its manoeuvrability and extreme speed allow it to reach targets within a radius of 1,450 kilometres,” the website said.<\/p>\n
The United States reacted by criticizing Iran’s weapons development.
\n“Iran’s development and proliferation of ballistic missiles poses a threat to the international security and remains a significant nonproliferation challenge,” State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter told reporters.<\/p>\n
“We continue to use a variety of nonproliferation tools to prevent any further advancement of Iran’s missile programme, and its ability to proliferate technology to others,” Porter added.<\/p>\n
Iran has the largest arsenal of missiles in the Middle East.
\nOn December 24, the Islamic republic fired 16 ballistic missiles to conclude military drills described by generals as a warning to Israel.
\nThe Jewish state is located little more than 1,000 kilometres from Iran’s western frontier.<\/p>\n
Bagheri said on Monday that Iran was “self-sufficient in terms of military equipment”, noting it could become one of the world’s largest arms exporters if US sanctions were lifted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEHRAN \u2013 February 10 (ONLINE): Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Wednesday announced the development of a surface-to-surface missile whose stated range would put arch-foe Israel within reach. The Guards’ Sepahnews website said the missile was named the Khaybarchekan after a victorious battle fought by […]<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[270],"tags":[16825],"class_list":["post-37247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news","tag-iran-guards-unveil-missile-said-to-put-israel-in-reach"],"yoast_head":"\n