Iran has a hypersonic missile, it says

General Amirali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ aerospace unit, announced on Thursday that Iran has created a hypersonic missile capable of breaching all defense systems.

Similar to conventional ballistic missiles that can deliver nuclear bombs, hypersonic missiles can travel faster than five times the speed of sound.

“This hypersonic ballistic missile was designed to defeat air defense shields,” Hajizadeh was reported as saying by the Iranian news agency Fars. It will be able to breach all anti-missile defense systems.

Inside the competition to build hypersonic weapons

The general stated that he felt it would take decades to construct a system capable of intercepting the missile, calling it a “huge breakthrough in the field of missiles”

How is a hypersonic missile defined?

Furthermore, hypersonic missiles are agile, making them more difficult to track and defend against than conventional missiles.

Despite the fact that nations such as the United States have developed systems to fight against cruise and ballistic missiles, the capacity to track and intercept a hypersonic missile remains in question.

Unlike ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles fly low in the atmosphere, allowing them to possibly reach targets faster.

02:03 North Korea claims to have successfully tested a hypersonic missile.

The North Korean test of a hypersonic missile last year aroused concerns about a technology arms race.

Russia presently leads China and the United States in the development of these missiles. Moscow even claimed in March that it had deployed a hypersonic missile in Ukraine, which would have been the weapon’s first combat usage, but the United States never confirmed this.

Both Iran and Russia are subject to severe sanctions — Iran since the United States unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, and Russia since its February invasion of Ukraine.

Russia asserts it attacked Ukraine with hypersonic missiles at 07:28

In response to the sanctions, the two nations have increased their collaboration in crucial sectors to assist stabilize their respective economies.

Iran advances despite diplomatic impasse

The news of the alleged hypersonic missile followed Iran’s admission on Saturday that it had deployed drones to Russia, albeit before the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict.

The Washington Post reported on October 16 that Iran was planning to transfer missiles to Russia. However, Tehran dismissed the report as “absolutely baseless.”

In addition, the remark was made against the backdrop of delayed negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. Iran received sanctions relief in exchange for assurances that it would not develop a nuclear weapon under the terms of a deal negotiated with six major world powers, including the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia.

Iran confirms supplying Russia with military drones for the Ukraine conflict at 02:00

Iran has consistently denied desiring a nuclear arsenal, but in July it claimed to have “the technical capability to manufacture a nuclear bomb.”

Regarding Iran’s claim, Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), stated on the sidelines of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt on Thursday that Tehran’s “announcements increase the attention, increase the concerns, and increase the public attention to the Iranian nuclear program.”

After the unilateral withdrawal of the United States in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump, the nuclear deal collapsed.

It also follows Iran’s declaration on November 5 that a rocket capable of launching satellites into orbit successfully completed a test flight.

In this image issued by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on January 16, 2021, a missile is launched during a training exercise in Iran. AP photo by Iranian Revolutionary Guard/Sepahnews

The United States has regularly expressed worry that such launches could enhance Iran’s ballistic missile capacity, which could lead to the delivery of nuclear weapons.

In reaction to “Iran’s recent missile attack on Erbil, Iraq, as well as missile attacks by Iranian proxies against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” the U.S. administration placed sanctions on Iran’s missile-related activities in March.

The U.S. administration stated, “These attacks are a warning that Iran’s development and proliferation of ballistic missiles represent a grave threat to regional and world security.”