Against the background of unabated tensions in the Middle East in general and the aggravation of the US-Iranian political and economic confrontation in particular, Tehran does not cease to tease Washington, declaring new developments in the military sphere.
Last week, the official representative of the Iranian armed forces announced the creation of a new anti-ship ballistic missile in the country capable of destroying surface targets at a distance of over 700 km.
At the same time, Tehran emphasizes that the development of missile weapons is carried out exclusively for defensive purposes.
Against this background, the following statement by the same officials sounds even louder that Iran reserves the right to hinder sea deliveries of oil and oil products through the Strait of Hormuz, if Washington blocks the export of "black gold" from Iran.
"We have developed a new anti-ship ballistic missile, I emphasize, not cruise, capable of destroying any naval ship or warship at a distance of over 700 km," said Amirali Hajizadeh, commander of the aerospace forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. According to him, work on the project of creating a ballistic anti-ship missile has been carried out over the past ten years on the personal instructions of the spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In 2008, the Iranian military commissioned and deployed several anti-ship missile systems with a missile target range of about 290 km. Information on the work on the new project was kept in terrible secrecy.
The Iranian missile program is a real headache for the White House, who is considering Tehran’s success in expanding its missile capabilities as a direct threat to the growth of tension in the Middle East region.
According to the Pentagon, Iranian short-range missiles over the past two years have been used many times during the fighting in Syria, where the paramilitary forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are on the side of Syrian government forces in the fight against international terrorists.
