May 14, 2021
A ballistic missile based on Iran’s new Zoljanah satellite launch vehicle could carry a 1-ton warhead 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles), according to an estimate of the rocket’s capabilities that Israel’s ambassador to the UN submitted to the UN Security Council in a letter dated April 7.
This capability would give the missile by far the greatest reach in Iran’s arsenal, as the longest range it can currently achieve is 3,000 kilometers with the Khorramshahr liquid-propellant missile, fitted with a 750 kg warhead, according to a European estimate submitted to the Security Council in March 2019, Jane’s Defense Weekly reported.
The longest range publicly claimed by Iran is 2,000 kilometers; the regime is believed to fear it would make relations with Europe difficult if it claimed a range above 2,000 kilometers. A 5,000-kilometer range would enable Iran to target every European country, including even Iceland.
The Zoljanah was unveiled with a suborbital flight test February 1, 2020, when it was described as having two solid-propellant motor stages and a smaller liquid-propellant third stage that enables it to put a 220-kilo payload into a 500-kilometer-high orbit.
A spokesman said the launch last year was from a truck launcher, rather than a fixed launch site. “Mobile launchers … are typically used for the rapid deployment of surface-to-surface ballistic missiles,” the Israeli letter said. “This activity casts further doubt as to whether Iran’s space program is really for peaceful purposes, as the regime claims.”
