TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran unveiled on Thursday what it dubbed the newest iteration of its liquid-fueled Khorramshahr ballistic missile amid wider tensions with the West over its nuclear program.
Authorities confirmed off the Khorramshahr-4 to journalists at an occasion in Tehran, with the missile on a truck-mounted launcher. Protection Minister Gen. Mohammad Reza Ashtiani stated the missile could possibly be ready for launch in a brief interval.
Iranian officers described the missile as having a 1,240-mile vary with a 3,300-pound warhead. In addition they launched undated video footage purportedly exhibiting a profitable launch of the missile.
The Khorramshahr-4 is known as after an Iranian metropolis that was the scene of heavy combating throughout the Iran-Iraq Conflict within the Eighties. The missile additionally is named Kheibar, after a Jewish fortress conquered by the Muslims within the seventh century — in what’s now Saudi Arabia.
Regional tensions possible performed a task in Iran’s missile show Thursday. A miniature instance of Jerusalem’s golden Dome of the Rock on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a holy website in each Islam and Judaism that Jews name the Temple Mount, stood subsequent to the cell launcher.
Iran views Israel as its archenemy and arming anti-Israeli militant teams within the Palestinian territories and surrounding international locations. Tensions between the 2 nations are excessive, notably as Iran enriches uranium nearer than ever to weapons-grade ranges. The Khorramshahr would be capable to attain Israel.
It stays unclear, nonetheless, why the missile has been referred to as Khorramshahr-4 as solely two different variants of the missile are publicly recognized. It’s modeled after North Korea’s Musudan ballistic missile.
