Iran Tests New Domestically-Made Missile as Defence Minister Praises Tehran's Deterrent Power

Last year, Iranian Defence Minister Amir Hatami said that Tehran was developing a long-range air-launched cruise missile in the face of tough US sanctions, which he said had failed to stop the Islamic Republic from making significant achievements in the defence industry.

The Iranian Army has successfully tested a new advanced missile with a range of 300 kilometres, Army Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Kiomars Heidari told reporters on Sunday.

He added that the test was conducted to evaluate the performance specifications of the domestically-made missile, which Heidari said is capable of hitting targets with pinpoint accuracy in all weather conditions.

FILE - In this photo released by the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), an Iran's Shahab-3 missile is launched by the Revolutionary Guard, during a maneuver outside the city of Qom, Iran, Tuesday, June 28, 2011

© AP Photo / Ruhollah Vahdati

The remarks came as Iranian Defence Minister Amir Hatami touted Tehran's deterrent power based on the development of sophisticated domestically-manufactured missiles.

"Today, all of the Islamic Republic of Iran's missiles are precise and have great maneuverability and the necessary explosive power to maintain the country's defensive deterrence", Hatami said in an interview with the Iranian news agency Tasnim on Sunday.

The defence minister also reaffirmed Iran's determination to take revenge on those behind the assassination of senior Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in November 2020.

"As a great country with management of strategic thinking, the Islamic Republic of Iran will mete out the punishment in the proper time and place. This will undoubtedly happen", the minister pledged.

Fakhrizadeh's killing on 27 November further exacerbated tensions between Tehran and the US-Israeli alliance. Senior Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, immediately accused Tel Aviv of the attack, but Israel's top brass has so far remained tight-lipped on the matter.

US-Iranian tensions have been in place since Washington's unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and the reinstatement of harsh US economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic in May 2018.

The said tensions escalated in early January 2020, when top Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani, was killed in a US drone strike authorised by then-President Donald Trump.