Iran Boasts It Has New Hypersonic Missile No Air Defenses Can Defeat

Iran says it has developed its first domestically produced hypersonic ballistic missile, which air defenses will not be able to thwart "for decades."

One military weapons expert told Newsweek that the missile will have "serious implications on the balance of power, not only in the Middle East, but just generally in the world."

General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGCASF), said that the missile can maneuver below and above the Earth's atmosphere, passing through "all missile defense test systems," state news agency Tasnim reported.

The agency said Hajizadeh told reporters of a "huge leap" in missile development and the weapon can target anti-missile systems. "I don't think there will be technologies capable of countering it for decades," said Hajizadeh. Newsweek has contacted the Iranian foreign ministry for comment.

Marina Miron, a research fellow from the Defense Studies Department at King's College London, said that the missile was likely to draw on Russian or Chinese technology, or a combination of both.

Iran has been developing missiles while under sanctions and had success with making Fateh ballistic missiles, which it has reportedly provided to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine.

"The problem is now the U.S. is still struggling with its hypersonic missiles and now all of a sudden Iran has its first hypersonic missile—so that changes the balance of power," she told Newsweek.

While there is secrecy over what kind of missile it is, Miron expected Tehran to leak video or reveal further details of the weapon to back up its claims.

"To intercept a hypersonic missile, you would need special space satellites or a space sensor," she said. "At this very stage there is no defense against hypersonic missiles so it increases the threat to countries which are located within range."

"It's going to have some serious implications on the balance of power, not only in the Middle East, but just generally in the world," she said.

She said if Russia can get such missiles manufactured for much cheaper from Iran, "that raises many more concerns because of the ongoing war in Ukraine and what a possible escalation might look like."

Hajizadeh's comments about the new missile were reported by state media in Russia, to which Tehran has supplied drones that have been used by Vladimir Putin's forces to hit civilian and energy targets.

Last month, Israel said it had destroyed a manufacturing plant in Syria that was reportedly used to assemble drones that had been manufactured in Iran.

Following initial denials it had supplied Moscow, with the UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), Tehran admitted it had given Russia the drones before Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion. The Shahed-136 or "kamikaze" drone which has damaged cities across Ukraine has an eight-foot wingspan and carries explosives in a warhead on its nose.

The drone is difficult to detect on radar and can loiter over a target until instructed to attack, making it difficult for Ukraine's air defenses to intercept. Iran has also given Russia Shahed 129s and Shahed 191s drones and has also supplied the Mohajer-6 drone which can carry four precision-guided missiles.

During Iran's recent joint military exercises, dubbed Great Prophet 17, Hajizadeh boasted of how Iranian-made missiles can maneuver in a way that makes them impossible to intercept.

In January 2020, Hajizadeh said he accepted "full responsibility" for the shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane minutes after it took off from Tehran's international airport. All 176 passengers and crew were killed on the plane, which Iranian officials mistook for a hostile target.

The previous year, he had been placed on a sanctions list by the U.S. Treasury Department. On September 29, 2022, he was sanctioned by Canada following protests linked to the death of Mahsa Amini.

Those protests were spurred by the death of the 22-year-old woman who had been arrested by morality police in Tehran on September 13 for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for women.

They have morphed into nationwide protests against the ruling regime. Rights groups say more than 300 people, including at least 41 children, have been killed during the protests.

Update 10/11/22, 8:47 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Marina Miron from King's College London.