Iran’s rapid development of missile expertise has raised concerns in Washington and among
its allies about Tehran’s intentions.
Despite international censure, the Revolutionary Guards have been able to develop the largest
and most diverse ballistic missile arsenal in the region.
Tehran is determined to develop and acquire ever more advanced and accurate ballistic
missiles – but its efforts to achieve that goal are hampered by American and Israeli
determination to subvert it.
A key component of Iran’s military doctrine is the development of an indigenous ballistic
missile program, and the country’s rapid development of missile expertise has raised
concerns in the US and among its allies.
Iran embarked on an indigenous ballistic missile program in 1986, when the Revolutionary Guards
created a “self-sufficiency unit” to develop military industries that would not require
assistance from other countries.
Headed by Gen. Hassan Tehrani-Moghaddam, the “founding father” of the Iranian missile
program, the unit was essentially an R&D facility for missile technology.
By reverse-engineering Soviet-era Scud technology, Tehrani-Moghaddam enabled the Guards to develop
the largest and most diverse ballistic missile arsenal in the region.
It includes the Shahab-1 (based on the Scud-B), the Shahab-3 (based on original Scud-C technology),
the Ghadr 110 and its variants, the Emad, the Shahab-4, the Shahab-5 (Kosar), the Shahab-6
(Toqyān), the Fajr-3, the Qiam, the Ashoura, and the Sejjil.
They are all capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Tehrani-Moghaddam died in November 2011 in an explosion in his research office at the
Alghadir missile base at Bid Ganeh, near Tehran, reportedly in an operation carried out by
the Mossad.
The Iranians continued advancing the missile program quietly and produced new types of
missiles, including the Dezful, the Hoveizeh, and the nuclear-capable Zolfaghar and Khorramshahr.
Despite international concerns over Iran’s ballistic missile program, the Obama administration
decided to compromise with Tehran on that program in exchange for concessions on its
nuclear program, which was a high priority strategic concern for his administration.
In a further compromise, Washington softened the language of UNSC Resolution 1929 (2010),
which stipulated that “Iran shall not undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles
capable of delivering nuclear weapons.”
Resolution 2231, which passed on July 20, 2015 and which endorsed the nuclear deal,
used more permissive language: “Iran is called upon not to undertake any activity
related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.”
With the nuclear agreement reached and the legal loophole created, the Iranians set about
putting more effort into their ballistic missile program.
As a result, their missiles have become a target of renewed international attention,
and consequently the subject of numerous rounds of sanctions.
The Trump administration decided to withdraw the US from the nuclear agreement in part
on the grounds that it does not address Iran’s ongoing ballistic missile program.
Sanctions notwithstanding, Iran has not faltered in ramping up its ballistic missile and space
programs.
According to Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Revolutionary
Guards’ aerospace program, Iran conducted seven test flights in 2018, in addition to
six Qiam missiles fired into an ISIS stronghold in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province in January
2018.
One Khorramshahr, two Shahab-3 variants, one Qiam, and three Zolfaghar ballistic missiles
were flight-tested between February and August 2018, which, according to the President of
the UN Security Council, was “in violation of resolution 2231” because the missiles
were all category I systems under the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and capable
of carrying nuclear warheads.
In August 2018, Iran’s defense ministry unveiled two new missiles: the Fakour and
the “Fateh Mobin” (Bright Conqueror), the latest addition to the Fateh-series of
short-range tactical ballistic missiles with a range of about 1,300 km.
On December 1, 2018, the Revolutionary Guards tested the Khorramshahr medium-range ballistic
missile at its facility near Shahrud in Iran’s northeast.
On February 2, 2019, Tehran announced the successful test of the Hoveizeh cruise missile
with a range of over 1,350 km during celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic
Revolution.
On February 7, the Revolutionary Guards unveiled a new ballistic missile, the Dezful, which
has a range of 1,000 km.
Iran’s PressTV quoted Gen. Hajizadeh as saying the Revolutionary Guards will “continue
missile tests…and plan to carry out more than 50 missile tests each year.”