Iran has steadily progressed in its design and production of more sophisticated missiles in recent years.
As exchanges of violence between Israel and Iran continue to heat up, a more detailed understanding of Tehran’s missile arsenal has become apparent. Dramatic footage depicting Iran’s ballistic missile barrages against Israel is currently circulating on social media. Tehran has fired nearly 280 ballistic missiles targeting Israel since the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched its initial operation against the regime’s nuclear-related assets last week. While the vast majority of these barrages have been thwarted by the IDF’s cutting-edge multi-tiered air defense systems, several missiles have penetrated and struck civilian centers in Israel. According to Israel’s Home Front Command, at least 14 individuals have been killed and hundreds more injured by these missile barrages.
Iran’s Ballistic Missiles
Iran’s ballistic missile stockpile has undoubtedly caused the most damage in Israel in the ongoing tit-for-tat barrages. “Iran is intentionally firing ballistic missiles at Israeli homes and apartments. These aren’t misfires. They are deliberately targeting civilians,” an IDF official stated. “I want to share with you what it means when I’ve been telling you the last few days that Iran is planning to turn ballistic missiles into a tool to annihilate Israel.” Analysts estimate that the regime possesses a stockpile of roughly 2,000 ballistic missiles, including the Shahab series, Fateh-110, Zolfaghar, and Ghadr variants.
The Shabah-3 represents Tehran’s first successful development of a medium-range ballistic missile that could reach well within Israeli territory. The liquid-fueled, road-mobile weapon has a range of approximately 1,300 km. Derived from the North Korean-produced No Dong 1 missile, the Shahab poses a significant threat to Israel. The Fateh-110 is Iran’s go-to short-range, solid-propellant ballistic missile. US officials have accused Chinese manufacturers of aiding in the development of the Fateh family of missiles, in addition to the longer-range Zolfaghar. This short-range ballistic missile was debuted back in 2016 and has previously been deployed in Syria. With a range of 700km, the original Zolfaghar cannot reach targets in Israel, but its longer-range successors like the Qasem reportedly can.
The Fattah-1 “hypersonic” missile has perhaps earned the most media attention amidst the ongoing war. Footage allegedly depicting the Fattah-1 penetrating Israeli air defenses and striking Haifa is all over social media. Although Tehran claims this hypersonic missile was used, Israeli and Western reports have yet to confirm this. The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) previously labeled the Fattah as a medium-range ballistic missile, countering the regime’s hypersonic claim. While Tehran has certainly strived to achieve endo-atmospheric and exo-atmospheric maneuverability in its newer missile endeavors, assessing the true extent of the Fattah’s capability has been limited. Iran may have a history of exaggerating the capabilities of its military systems, but it is difficult to deny that the regime has steadily progressed in its design and production of more sophisticated weapons in recent years. Due to Tehran’s missile technology prioritization, adding evasive maneuvering to its newer projectiles would make a logical next step, as detailed by IISS.
About the Author: Maya Carlin
Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin. Carlin has over 1,000 articles published over the last several years on various defense issues.
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