DUBAI
\nIran presented what officials described as its first domestically-made hypersonic ballistic missile on Tuesday, the official IRNA news agency reported, an announcement likely to heighten Western concerns about Tehran\u2019s missile capabilities.
\nIranian state media published pictures of the missile named Fattah at a ceremony attended by President Ebrahim Raisi and commanders of Iran\u2019s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps.
\n\u201cThe precision-guided Fattah hypersonic missile has a range of 1,400 km and it is capable of penetrating all defence shields,\u201d Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guards\u2019 aerospace force, was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.
\nHypersonic missiles can fly at least five times faster than the speed of sound and on a complex trajectory, which makes them difficult to intercept. Last year, the Islamic Republic said it had built a hypersonic ballistic missile which can manoeuvre in and out of the atmosphere.
\nState TV said Iran\u2019s Fattah missile can target \u201cthe enemy\u2019s advanced anti-missile systems and is a big generational leap in the field of missiles\u201d.
\n\u201cIt can bypass the most advanced anti-ballistic missile systems of the United States and the Zionist regime, including Israel\u2019s Iron Dome,\u201d Iran\u2019s state TV said.
\nFattah\u2019s top speed reached mach 14 levels (15,000km\/h), it added.
\nDespite US and European opposition, the Islamic Republic has said it will further develop its defensive missile programme. However, Western military analysts say Iran sometimes exaggerates its missile capabilities.
\nConcerns about Iran\u2019s ballistic missiles contributed to then-US President Donald Trump\u2019s decision in 2018 to ditch Tehran\u2019s 2015 nuclear pact with six major powers.
\nTrump reimposed US sanctions on Iran after exiting the nuclear pact, leading Tehran to resume previously banned nuclear work and reviving US, European and Israeli fears that Iran may seek an atomic bomb. Iran has consistently denied any such ambition.
\nIndirect talks between Tehran and US President Joe Biden\u2019s administration to salvage the nuclear deal have stalled since last September.
\nIsrael, which the Islamic Republic refuses to recognise, opposes efforts by world powers to revive Tehran\u2019s nuclear deal and has long threatened military action if diplomacy fails.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DUBAI Iran presented what officials described as its first domestically-made hypersonic ballistic missile on Tuesday, the official IRNA news agency reported, an announcement likely to heighten Western concerns about Tehran\u2019s missile capabilities. Iranian state media published pictures of the missile named Fattah at a ceremony attended by President Ebrahim Raisi and commanders of Iran\u2019s elite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335979,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-335960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n