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

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

Iranian state media released images 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 Corps.

“The precision-guided Fattah hypersonic missile has a range of 1,400 km (870 miles) and is capable of penetrating all defensive shields,” Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Guard’s aerospace force, was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.

Hypersonic missiles can fly at least five times faster than the speed of 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.

State television said Iran’s Fattah missile can target “the enemy’s advanced anti-missile systems and is a huge generational leap in the missile field,” without providing evidence to back up the claim.

“It can bypass the most advanced US and Zionist regime anti-ballistic missile systems, including Israel’s Iron Dome,” Iran’s state TV said.

Fattah’s top speed reached Mach 14 levels (15,000 km/h), it added.

Flying at speeds greater than Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, hypersonic weapons could pose crucial challenges for missile defense systems due to their speed and maneuverability.

Despite American and European opposition, the Islamic Republic has said it will continue to develop its defensive missile program. However, Western military analysts say that Iran sometimes exaggerates its missile capabilities.

In November, Revolutionary Guard General Amir Ali Hajizadeh claimed that Iran had created a hypersonic missile, without offering supporting evidence.

That claim came during nationwide protests that followed the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini following her arrest by the country’s morality police.

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

At the time, state television broadcast 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 1,500 kg ballistic missile. (3,300- pound) warhead.

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

Iran, which has one of the largest missile programs in the Middle East, says its weapons are capable of hitting 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 decision in 2018 to abandon Tehran’s 2015 nuclear pact with six major powers.

Trump reimposed US sanctions on Iran after pulling out of the nuclear pact, prompting Tehran to resume previously banned nuclear work and reigniting fears in the US, Europe and Israel that Iran could seek an atomic bomb. Iran has always denied any such ambition.

Proxy talks between Tehran and US President Joe Biden’s administration to salvage the nuclear deal have been stalled since last September.

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

China is believed to be pursuing the weapons, as is the United States. Russia claims it is already deploying the weapons and has said it used them on the battlefield in Ukraine.