Iran’s Guard Says Its 2,000-Kilometer Missile Range Limit ‘Has Been Lifted’
The Revolutionary Guard spokesman did not say whether Iran has missiles that can exceed the old limit, days after the supreme leader’s warning of a response without geographic limits
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - Iran’s Revolutionary Guard announced on Saturday that a self-imposed limit of 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) on the range of its ballistic missiles “has been lifted,” suggesting Tehran may seek weapons able to reach more distant targets as fears of renewed all-out war grow, AP reported.
Asked about the limit at a news conference in Tehran, Guard spokesman Gen. Hossein Mohebbi said,
That restriction has been lifted for us.
Mohebbi did not say whether Iran already has missiles that can exceed the limit, saying only that Iran would “demonstrate these capabilities in practice” and not make statements. Iran is not known to have missiles able to go beyond 2,000 kilometers, a range that covers parts of Greece and the Balkans, the entire Arabian Peninsula, the Levant and most of Egypt, according to AP, and it has not publicly demonstrated one. US officials have said technology from Iran’s space program could be repurposed to build intercontinental ballistic missiles. Iran reportedly tried and failed in March to hit the joint US-UK base at Diego Garcia, about 4,000 kilometers away, the Times of Israel reported, citing AP, a claim Iran has not confirmed.
The remarks come days after a statement attributed to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, which directed the armed forces to respond to “any kind and level of threat” from the US or Israel without geographic limits. Iranian officials have since said that could include US bases in Europe. The limit was first acknowledged in 2017 by then-Guard commander Mohammad Ali Jafari, who said it followed the policy of the supreme leader at the time, Ali Khamenei, and that Iran could extend it, according to AP and Al Jazeera.
Separately, the Iranian military said a tanker east of the Strait of Hormuz hit a mine and caught fire, without naming its flag or destination, and said the vessel had turned off its navigational beacon and was sailing in a “prohibited area.”
The claim could not be verified. On Saturday, airstrikes near Yemen’s capital killed at least 27 people, according to a spokesman for the Houthi-run Health Ministry, up from the 22 that Houthi media reported earlier in the day, while heavy rain flooded tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.