Iran's Raisi unveils country's first hypersonic ballistic missile: report
Iranian authorities claim the Fattah missile, which has a top speed of 15,000 kilometres per hour, can bypass the most advanced anti-ballistic missile systems of the United States and Israel.
Iran has unveiled what officials described as its first domestically-made hypersonic ballistic missile, the official IRNA news agency reported, an announcement likely to heighten Western concerns about Tehran's missile capabilities.
Iranian state media published on Tuesday pictures of the missile named Fattah at a ceremony attended by President Ebrahim Raisi and commanders of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.
Hypersonic missiles can fly at least five times faster than the speed of sound and on a complex trajectory, which makes them difficult to intercept.
Last year, the Islamic Republic said it had built a hypersonic ballistic missile, which can manoeuvre in and out of the atmosphere.
That claim came during the nationwide protests that followed the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the country's morality police.
State TV said Iran's Fattah missile can target "the enemy's advanced anti-missile systems and is a big generational leap in the field of missiles".
"It can bypass the most advanced anti-ballistic missile systems of the United States and the Zionist regime, including Israel's Iron Dome," Iran's state TV said.
Fattah's top speed reached 15,000 kilometres per hour (Mach 14 levels), it added.
Pursuing hypersonic weapons
Despite US and European opposition, the Islamic Republic has said it will further develop its defensive missile programme. However, Western military analysts say Iran sometimes exaggerates its missile capabilities.
China is also believed to be pursuing hypersonic weapons, as is America. Russia claims to already be fielding the weapons and has said it used them on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Concerns about Iran's ballistic missiles contributed to then-US president Donald Trump's decision in 2018 to ditch Tehran's 2015 nuclear pact with six major powers.
Indirect talks between Tehran and US President Joe Biden's administration to salvage the nuclear deal have stalled since last September.
The launching of the new missile system comes as Iran reopened on Tuesday its embassy in Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, after intense diplomacy negotiated by China.