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The Next Generation of Iranian Ballistic Missiles
(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Farzin Nadimi - On May 25, 2023, Iran's minister of defense, Gen. Mohammad Reza Qaraei Ashtiani, unveiled the fourth generation of the Khoramshahr liquid-fuel ballistic missile, named Kheibar. The message to Israel implicit in the name was unmistakable. Before the Islamic era, Kheibar was a fortified oasis north of Medina, Saudi Arabia, inhabited by Jewish tribes. In CE 628, the Jews there were defeated by Muslim armies. The missile has much in common technically with the North Korean Hwasong-10. Iran is thought to have received several Hwasong-10 missiles from North Korea in 2005 for reverse engineering purposes. The Khoramshahr is clearly capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Moreover, Iranian military sources claim the new missile can carry a cluster warhead capable of dispensing up to eighty submunitions. Tehran has framed the Khoramshahr as a direct threat to NATO and Europe, including the operational Aegis Ashore missile defense sites in Romania and Poland, which were commissioned to defend against Iran's ballistic missile threat. The writer is a senior fellow with the Washington Institute.