Tehran’s increasing missile activity in perspective

Tehran’s increasing missile activity in perspective

Tehran's missile program

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Feb. 6, 2019 - On February 2, the Iranian regime announced a new missile called the Hoveizeh 8 from the Cruise missile family.

According to the Iranian regime the new missile has a maximum range of 1,300 kilometers. Analysts believe that the new missile is copied from a similar Chinese model.

Cruise missiles are capable of delivering heavy payloads to far distances without leaving the atmosphere. Their low altitude and relatively low heat-producing engines helps them to largely avoid detection by conventional radars, and heat-locking anti-missile systems have a hard time to target them.

Iran's latest announcement of the new missile is considered a direct response to its recent failures in testing ballistic missiles.

Iranian state-run television gleefully broadcasted the new missile on February 2 and reported: "Considerable advancements in Iranian missiles by the announcement of the Hoveizeh Cruise missile. The Hoveizeh missile with a range of more than 1,300 kilometers is capable of destroying a wide spectrum of targets because it is tactical. Before that, the earth-to-earth missile named "Soumar" was announced in 2015 with a range of 700 kilometers."

Abdolrahim Mousavi, current commander-in-chief of the Islamic Republic Army, also said: "Considering the time [the missile] needs to become launch-ready, the very short time of its flight, the very low altitude and the great power of its warhead, god willing, it will be capable of increasing the defense capabilities of our country."

Despite the Iranian regime’s continuous propaganda about its increasing defense capabilities and scientific breakthroughs, western experts say that, "Iran often exaggerates its weapons capabilities, although there are concerns about its long-range ballistic missiles," Reuters reports.

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, who recently boasted that Iran has concealed some of its nuclear capabilities from the International Atomic Energy Agency, ridiculously suggested that Iran could help neighboring countries in building their nuclear capabilities.

"The Atomic Energy Organization announced Iran's readiness to build [nuclear] power plants in neighboring countries," reported Iran's official television.

"We are ready to design for them, deliver to them, and train them so they can produce their own radioactive and do the necessary tests," Salehi said.

Out of fear for international repercussions, Hossein Salami, second-in-command of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), tried to play down Iran's drive for long-range missiles while saving face and said that, "If we limit the range of our missiles to a specific number, it's because of our strategy," according to Asr-e Iran website.

The main reason behind Iran's recent muscle flexing, while ordinary Iranians can't afford to buy a kilogram of meat to eat, is the mullahs’ desire to cover four decades of economic, political, and social failure.

Iran's rebranding of Chinese and Korean missiles as achievement of natively acquired technologies and scientific breakthroughs also tell a story of an embattled ideology that fails to satisfy the popular Iranian opinion after four decades of economic mismanagement, nepotism, corruption, and kleptocracy.