Senior Iranian official claims Iran firing more advanced missiles in place of massive barrages

A senior Iranian official claims that Iran has changed its tactics of firing large missile barrages, and is instead firing more advanced precision missiles against Israeli military sites.

Speaking to CNN, the unnamed official rejects what he calls an Israeli claim that it is running out of missiles.

Israel has said in recent days that while Iran still has significant stocks of missiles, airstrikes have hit at least 50 percent of the launchers needed to fire the projectiles, hampering their capabilities.

The Iranian claim that it is firing more precise missiles comes contrary to the IDF Home Front Command’s confirmation that Iran has launched ballistic missiles carrying a cluster bomb warhead.

Such missiles have a warhead that splits while descending, at an altitude of around 7 kilometers, spreading around 20 smaller munitions at a radius of around 8 kilometers. The munitions do not have their own propulsion, and simply fly away randomly to the ground.

The Iranian official tells CNN that Tehran “launched a missile and the missile easily made its way through American THAAD, Patriot, Arrow 3, Arrow 2, David’s Sling and the family of Iron Dome systems, striking the predetermined target,” without clarifying which target.

Israel “should not be happy about the decrease in the number of missiles fired and better keep silent and merely become an observer in the face of the new balance of Iranian superior power,” the official adds.

Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.