Iranian Revolutionary Guards unveil ‘new ballistic missile’

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on 7 February 2019 unveiled a new ballistic missile with a range of 1,000km, the official news agency Sepah News reported.

The surface-to-surface missile, called Dezful, is an upgrade on the older Zolfaghar model that had a range of 700km, aerospace commander Brig Gen Amirali Hajizadeh said.

The new weapon was revealed on 2 February 2019, when Iran said it had successfully tested a new cruise missile named Hoveizeh with a range of 1,350km. The unveiling ceremony was carried out by Revolutionary Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari and Hajizadeh at an ‘underground ballistic missile production facility’, the report said.

The facility’s location was not specified and pictures published by Sepah News showed only the two commanders in a room examining the missile.

Iran has voluntarily limited the range of its missiles to 2,000km, but that is still enough to hit Israel and US bases in the Middle East.

Tehran reined in most of its nuclear programme under a landmark 2015 deal with major powers but has kept up development of its ballistic missile technology. President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the nuclear accord in May and reimposed sanctions on Iran, citing the missile programme among its reasons.

Iran and the other signatories have stuck by the 2015 agreement, although some European governments have demanded an addition to address Tehran’s ballistic missile programme and its intervention in regional conflicts.

UN Security Council Resolution 2231, adopted just after the nuclear deal, calls on Iran ‘not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.’

Tehran insists that its missile development programme is ‘purely defensive’ and compliant with the resolution.