Iran presents first hypersonic missile

Iran presented what officials described as its first domestically made hypersonic ballistic missile yesterday, the IRNA news agency reported, an announcement likely to heighten Western concerns about Tehran’s missile capabilities.

Iranian state media published pictures of the missile named Fattah at a ceremony attended by President Ebrahim Rahisi and commanders of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps.

“The precision-guided Fattah hypersonic missile has a range of 1,400km and it is capable of penetrating all defence shields,” Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guards’ aerospace force, was quoted as saying.

State TV said Iran’s Fattah missile can “bypass the most advanced anti-ballistic missile systems of the US and the Zionist regime, including Israel’s Iron Dome”, adding that its top speed reached mach 14 levels (15,000km/h).