This handout photo provided by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) official website Sepah News on February 1, 2025, shows a test launch during the unveiling of the Ghadr-380 naval cruise missile in an undisclosed location in Iran. The naval arm of the IRGC unveiled a new underground missile facility on the south coast in footage aired by state television on February 1, two weeks after unveiling an underground naval base
| Photo Credit: AFP PHOTO / IRAN’S REVOLUTIONARY GUARD VIA SEPAH NEWS
Iran test-fired an anti-warship cruise missile with a range of 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) capable of reaching U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, state TV reported on Saturday (February 1, 2025).
“This is a Ghadr-380 mile type L. It has over 1,000 kilometers range. It has anti-jamming capability,” said Gen. Ali Reza Tangsiri, the head of the navy of the Revolutionary Guard, in a report that showed an underground missile facility on the southern coast of Iran.
The report elaborated neither on warhead that the missile carried, nor the time of the test.
Mr. Tangsiri said the facility is “only one part of the missile systems of the Guard,” adding that the missiles can create “a hell for the enemy’s warships.”
The report said the new weapon was a “sophisticated missile,” without elaborating, which could be launched from the underground facility. The missile was launched from central Iran into the Sea of Oman, it said.
It said the missile can be made ready and launched by one member of personnel in less than five minutes.
Since 2011 Iran has occasionally announced the inauguration of underground missile facilities along with missile tests. It has boasted of underground facilities across the country as well as along the southern coast near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Iran claims to have missiles that can travel 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles), placing much of the Middle East, including Israel, within range.
In 2024 and during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iran launched hundreds of missiles at Israel in two separate barrages in April and October. Israel said it intercepted most of the missiles.
Following Iraq’s bloody 1980s eight-year war against Iran, when both countries fired missiles at cities, Iran developed its ballistic missile program as a deterrent, especially as a U.N. arms embargo prevents it from buying high-tech weapons systems. The underground tunnels help protect those weapons, including liquid-fueled missiles that can only be fueled for short periods of time.
The U.S. and its Western allies see Iran’s missile program as a threat, along with the country’s nuclear program.
Published – February 02, 2025 07:03 am IST
