1 of 1 Khaibar missile, in an image released May 25 Photo: Reproduction/Iranian Defense Ministry/Via AFP Khaibar missile, in an image released May 25 Photo: Reproduction/Iranian Defense Ministry/Via AFP
Iran’s Defense Ministry has unveiled a new ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 km and capable of carrying warheads weighing more than a ton.
A US State Department spokesman said Thursday that Iran’s missile program poses a serious threat.
“Iran’s development and proliferation of ballistic missiles poses a serious threat to regional and international security and presents a serious nonproliferation challenge,” said Matthew Miller, spokesman for the State Department. The Role of the US Department of State).
Iran’s official news agency IRNA said the new projectile was “a liquidpropellant rocket with a range of 2,000 km, equipped with a 1,500 kg warhead”.
The name refers to the ancient city of Khaybar in modernday Saudi Arabia, known for a crucial 7thcentury battle in which the army of the Prophet Mohammed defeated thousands of Jewish residents.
The announcement comes amid the escalating IsraeliPalestinian conflict and just days after a Gaza ceasefire that ended the fiveday conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Iranarmed radical Islamist movement.