As Israel braces for a 2nd attack, what are Iran’s missile and drone capabilities?
Iran’s ballistic missiles can reach Israel within 12 minutes, cruise missiles in two hours, and drones some nine hours; in April attack, 99% of projectiles were shot down
The US announced Tuesday that it had detected that Iran was planning an imminent missile and drone attack on Israel. This would be the second such attack in recent months.
Iran has developed a range of ballistic missiles and drones in a program that has long worried the West. Some of these capabilities were shown off on the night of April 13-14, when Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel.
Its missiles are an important part of the arsenal at Tehran’s disposal as a flurry of reports said Tuesday it was preparing an imminent attack in Israel, after vowing to respond to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran earlier this year, which it blamed on Israel. It also vowed a response after an Israeli airstrike killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps deputy commander in Beirut Friday.
The New York Times quoted three Israeli officials on Tuesday saying the anticipated Iranian attack would include drones and missiles, and a US official who said he was anticipating ballistic missiles.
When Iran attacked Israel in April, ballistic missiles were calculated to take 12 minutes to reach Israel from Iran, cruise missiles to take two hours, and drones some nine hours to reach their target.
According to the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Iran is armed with the largest number of ballistic missiles in the region.
Here are some details:
Ahead of April’s attack, the semi-official Iranian news outlet ISNA published a graphic showing nine Iranian missiles it said could reach Israel.
These included the ‘Sejil’, capable of flying at more than 17,000 kilometers (10,500 miles) per hour and with a range of 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles), the ‘Kheibar’ with a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles), and the ‘Haj Qasem’, which has a range of 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) and is named after Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad four years ago, ISNA said.
Iran, a major producer of drones, said last year it had built an advanced homemade drone named Mohajer-10 with an operational range of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) and capable of flying for up to 24 hours with a payload of up to 300 kilograms (660 pounds).
Iran says its ballistic missiles are an important deterrent and retaliatory force against the US, Israel, and other potential regional targets. It denies seeking nuclear weapons.
Last year, Iran presented what officials described as its first domestically made hypersonic ballistic missile, the official IRNA news agency reported. Hypersonic missiles can fly at least five times faster than the speed of sound and on a complex trajectory, which makes them difficult to intercept.
Despite US and European opposition, the Islamic Republic has said it will further develop its defensive missile program.
The Arms Control Association, a Washington-based nongovernmental organization, says Iran’s missile program is largely based on North Korean and Russian designs and has benefited from Chinese assistance.
The Arms Control Association says Iran’s short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles include: Shahab-1, with an estimated range of 300 kilometers (190 miles); the Zolfaghar, with 700 kilometers (435 miles); Shahab-3, with 800-1,000 kilometers (500 to 620 miles); Emad-1, a missile under development with up to 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles); and Sejil, under development, with 1,500-2,500 kilometers (930 to 1,550 miles).
Iran also has cruise missiles such as the Kh-55, an air-launched nuclear-capable weapon with a range of up to 3,000 kilometers (1,860 miles), and the advanced anti-ship missile the Khalid Farzh, with about 300 kilometers (186 miles), capable of carrying a 1,000-kilogram (1.1-ton) warhead.
Regional attacks
Iran drew on the projectiles in April, when it launched more than 300 projectiles at Israel, comprising 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles, and 120 ballistic missiles. The Israel Defense Forces said that 99 percent of them had been intercepted by air defenses — both Israeli and by a coalition of allies.
The IRGC said they drew upon their arsenal in January when they attacked the spy headquarters of Israel in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, and said they fired at Islamic State militants in Syria. Iran also announced firing missiles at two bases of a Baluchi militant group in neighboring Pakistan
Saudi Arabia and the US have said they believe Iran was behind a drone and missile attack on Saudi Arabia’s prized oil facilities in 2019. Tehran denied the allegation.
In 2020, Iran launched missile attacks on US-led forces in Iraq, including the al-Asad air base, in retaliation for a US drone strike on Iranian commander Soleimani, whose killing raised fears of a wider Middle East conflict.
Backing for Yemen’s Houthis
The US accuses Iran of arming the Houthis of Yemen, who have been firing on Red Sea shipping and Israel itself during the Gaza war, in a campaign they say is aimed at supporting the Palestinians.
Tehran denies arming the Houthis.
Yemen’s Houthis have fired over 220 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones at Israel over the past 11 months — mostly toward the southernmost city of Eilat — saying that the attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been battling Hamas since the Palestinian terror group’s October 7 attack.
In 2022, the Houthis said they fired a number of ballistic missiles and drones at the United Arab Emirates.
This included a missile attack targeting a base hosting the US military in the UAE, which was thwarted by US-built Patriot interceptor missiles.
Support for Hezbollah
In 2022, Nasrallah claimed the terror group was able to transform standard rockets into precision missiles with the cooperation of “experts from the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The terror group has been left in disarray after thousands of pagers detonated on their Hezbollah owners last month, putting a reported 1,500 fighters from the terror group out of commission, in an attack blamed on Israel.
This was followed by the IDF’s aerial campaign targeting homes in which Hezbollah placed missiles and rockets, and killing numerous senior Hezbollah commanders, as well as leaders of the group’s elite Radwan Force, which Israel says was planning an invasion of the Galilee.
Syria
Iran has transferred indigenous precision-guided missiles to Syria to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s fight against insurgents, according to Israeli and Western intelligence officials.
It has also moved some of its production capacity to underground compounds in Syria, where Assad’s military and other pro-Tehran forces have learned to build their own missiles, those same sources say.
