ABU DHABI: Iran has unveiled the latest missile as part of the country’s fast expanding arsenal of weapons – one that Iran’s military said could travel up to 15 times the speed of sound.
The missile is known as Fattah, which is reportedly one of the 99 names of God in Islam that means “victory giver.” This week, the military of the nation celebrated its historic accomplishment, CNN reported.
Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force, stated in remarks reported by the semi-official Tasnim news agency that the hypersonic projectile has the capacity to “penetrate all air defence missile systems and detonate them.”
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, was eager to downplay any possible danger to his nation.
In remarks that were reported in Israeli media, he added, “I hear our enemies bragging about the weapons they are building. “To any such development, we have even better response – whether it be on land, in the air, or in the maritime arena, including both defensive and offensive means.”
Although Iran’s assertions have not been independently verified, experts say they are consistent with observable advancements in missile development.
The missile is real and functional, according to Uzi Rubin, the founder and former director of the Israel Missile Defence Organisation at the Israeli defence ministry.
“The concept is realistic, elegant, and workable,” he told CNN.
Although it is a “revolutionary design,” he pointed out that it is not necessarily a significant “revolution” in Tehran’s missile capabilities and that Iran has already developed a number of hypersonic missiles. Most ballistic missiles, according to experts, are capable of hypersonic flight.
According to Alex Vatanka, head of the Middle East Institute’s Iran Programme in Washington, DC, Iran has “a long history of making exaggerated claims” on its missile development. “Having said that, there is no denying that Iran has made significant strides in this area. Has Iran joined the A-list of nations capable of manufacturing hypersonic missiles? The opposite is true.
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According to the US, Iran has the greatest arsenal of ballistic missiles in the Middle East and uses them as one of its “primary tools of coercion and force projection.”
Iran has previously stated that the only purpose of its missile programme is defence. However, the supreme leader of Iran’s newspaper, Kayhan, stated in an editorial this week that the Fattah missile’s goal is also “to show its deterrence in economic and political areas.” Iran frequently claims that the United States is waging an economic war against it while being subject to severe American sanctions.
