On September 23, 2017, Iranian TV announced the successful launch of a new ballistic missile called Khorramshahr,[1] which has a range of 2,000 km and can carry multiple warheads weighing 1,800 kg. The report was accompanied by footage showing the first few seconds of the launch, while the subsequent stages of the missile's flight were not shown and the date of the launch was not given. American sources reported on September 25, 2017, that the footage showed an abortive January 2017 launch of the missile, when the missile exploded only a few seconds following its launch.The missile itself was unveiled one day earlier, on September 22, at a military parade marking the anniversary of the end of the Iran-Iraq war.
The head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) aerospace and missile division, Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said on January 22 that the Khorramshahr is "a new achievement that [Iran's] Defense Ministry created for the IRGC. It has a range of 2,000 km and can carry a warhead weighing 1,800 kg, and it can carry several warheads instead of one. We have now started the process of making it battle-ready, and it will soon become an operational [part of] the IRGC's missile division."[2]
Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami said on September 23 that "as long as some speak in the language of threats, we will continue to strengthen Iran's defense capabilities... Our defense policy is oriented towards deterrence and Iran will not be swayed by any threat, sanction or pressure... These [only] strengthen our resolve to continue on our path. The strategic Khorramshahr missile... can penetrate enemy defenses and can be guided from the moment of launch until the moment it destroys the target..."
Hatami also addressed what he regards as the motivations behind U.S. President Donald Trump's statements against Iran in his Sept 19, 2017 UN speech, saying: "The U.S. President's statements are warlike and arrogant. These impolite statements are meant to evade domestic pressures in America [and avoid dealing with] the defeat of [the U.S.] regional policy, international commitments, [and] the failure to realize the goals of the Arrogance [i.e., the U.S.]. They attest to the dictatorial spirit of America...
"The important point is that [the people of Iran] invested great and tireless jihadi efforts until Iran achieved this level of deterrence, might and readiness, which turn the statements of the U.S. president into nothing more than boasting in the eyes of the great and wise Iranian nation."[3]
To watch a video of the launching of the Khorramshahr missile, click on the player below.[4]
IRGC Missiles Targeting Israel
On September 23, Hossein Dalirian, military correspondent for the IRGC-affiliated news agency Tasnim, posted on the agency's website and on his Twitter page a review of the IRGC's ballistic missiles that can reach Israel, with the technical specifications of each. The following are excerpts from his review, listing seven types of missiles, along with the maps he presented, which stress that Israel is the target of the missiles.
"In the 1990s Iran began thinking of capabilities that would allow it to attack the occupied lands [i.e., Israel] and the vital centers of the Zionist regime from Iranian soil, in the event that this regime attacks Iran. To this end, [we] began working on medium-range missiles, so that it would at least be possible to target the occupied lands from the westernmost part of Iran. Since the distance between the two points is 1,100 km, the first-generation of the Shahab ballistic missile was built with a range of 1,200 km, so that Tel Aviv would be within Iran's reach. In that period, the manufacture and mass-production of this missile garnered widespread attention. In the many years that have passed since then Iran managed to manufacture a broad range of missiles with diverse capabilities. All of Iran's ballistic missiles are available to the IRGC missile division, and so far the IRGC has tested many of them.
"Let us now review the IRGC missiles that target Israel, and their operational range:
"The Shahab, Iran's first missile, [stationed] in Chala [a village in Kermanshah, Iran's westernmost province]
"Range (first generation): 1,200 km
"Propellent: liquid
"Weight when armed: 15 tons
"Payload: 670 kg
"Length: 15 meters
"Type: ground-to-ground; ballistic
"Stages: one-stage
"The Sejjil, Iran's deadliest missle
"Range: 2,000 km
"Propellent: solid and compound solid
"Weight when armed: 23.54 tons
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"Payload: 650 kg
"Length: 17.9 meters
"Type: surface-to-surface; ballistic
"Stages: two-stage, with fragmentation warhead capabilities
"The sejjil can be launched at the occupied lands [i.e., Israel] from various locations on Iranian soil"
"The three Qadr missiles
"Qadr S missile, with range of 1,350 km
"Qadr H missile, with range of 1,650 km
"Qadr F missile, with range of 2,000 km
"Propellent: liquid
"Weight of Qadr F when armed: 17.458 tons
"Weight of Qadr F warhead: 640 kg
"Length of Qadr F: 15.86 meters
"Type: ballistic
"Stages: one-stage, with fragmentation warhead capabilities
"The the range of the Qadr S"
"The the range of the Qadr H"
"The the range of the Qadr F"
"The Imad missile, commemorating the courage of 'Imad Mourniyah[5]
"Range: 1,700 km
"Propellent: liquid
"Weight: unknown
"Payload: unknown
"Length: unknown
"Type: surface-to-surface; ballistic
"Stages: one-stage, with fragmentation warhead capabilities, full-trajectory guidance
"Range of Imad missile: 1,700 km"
"The Khorramshahr – the IRGC's most powerful missile"
"The launching of the [Khorramshahr] missile"
"Range: 2,000 km
"Propellent: liquid
"Weight: unknown
"Payload: 1,800 kg
"Length: unknown
"Type: surface-to-surface; ballistic
"Stages: one-stage, with fragmentation warhead capabilities
"Can carry several warheads"
On September 22, 2017, Dalirian tweeted an image of the Khorramshahr missile, and wrote: "The pictures show that this missile has no fins... The Khorramshahr is the second Iranian missile that lacks fins, after the Qiam [missile]."[6]
[1] The retaking of the city of Khorramshahr following a month-long battle was one of Iran's notable achievements during the Iran-Iraq war.
[2] Tasnim (Iran), September 22, 2017.
[3] Tasnim (Iran), September 23, 2017.
[4] Twitter.com/HosseinDalirian/status/911454427038535680.
[5] Hizbullah's chief operations officer, who was killed in 2008, reportedly by Israel and the CIA.
[6] Twitter.com/HosseinDalirian, September 22, 2017.
