Latest news with #Zolfaghar
Middle East Eye
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Houthis claim missile launch on Israel aimed at Ben Gurion airport
Yemen's Houthi movement has claimed responsibility for a ballistic missile aimed at Israel, confirming earlier reports by the Israeli military that it had intercepted the projectile. In a pre-recorded televised message, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had fired a Zolfaghar missile towards Ben Gurion International Airport. He claimed the launch 'achieved its objective', triggering air raid sirens in over 300 locations across Israel and forcing 'millions of Zionists' into bomb shelters. He also said air traffic at the airport was temporarily disrupted. Saree warned that Houthi operations would continue, both against Israeli targets and ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea, describing the strikes as retaliation for 'the crime of genocide committed in Gaza'.
CTV News
24-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Israel killed at least 14 scientists in an unprecedented attack on Iran's nuclear know-how
In this photo released on Monday, June 23, 2025, by Iranian army press service, Iran's army commander-in-chief Gen. Amir Hatami, center, Admiral Mahmoud Mousavi, right, and Admiral Habibollah Sayyari attend a meeting in Zolfaghar central headquarters, Iran. (Iranian Army Press Service via AP) PARIS — Israel's tally of the war damage it wrought on Iran includes the targeted killings of at least 14 scientists, an unprecedented attack on the brains behind Iran's nuclear program that outside experts say can only set it back, not stop it. In an interview with The Associated Press, Israel's ambassador to France said the killings will make it 'almost' impossible for Iran to build weapons from whatever nuclear infrastructure and material may have survived nearly two weeks of Israeli airstrikes and massive bunker-busting bombs dropped by U.S. stealth bombers. 'The fact that the whole group disappeared is basically throwing back the program by a number of years, by quite a number of years,' Ambassador Joshua Zarka said. But nuclear analysts say Iran has other scientists who can take their place. European governments say that military force alone cannot eradicate Iran's nuclear know-how, which is why they want a negotiated solution to put concerns about the Iranian program to rest. 'Strikes cannot destroy the knowledge Iran has acquired over several decades, nor any regime ambition to deploy that knowledge to build a nuclear weapon,' U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy told lawmakers in the House of Commons. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program was peaceful, and U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran is not actively pursuing a bomb. However, Israeli leaders have argued that Iran could quickly assemble a nuclear weapon. Here's a closer look at the killings: Chemists, physicists, engineers among those killed Zarka told AP that Israeli strikes killed at least 14 physicists and nuclear engineers, top Iranian scientific leaders who 'basically had everything in their mind.' They were killed 'not because of the fact that they knew physics, but because of the fight that they were personally involved in, the creation and the fabrication and the production of (a) nuclear weapon,' he said. Nine of them were killed in Israel's opening wave of attacks on June 13, the Israeli military said. It said they 'possessed decades of accumulated experience in the development of nuclear weapons' and included specialists in chemistry, materials and explosives as well as physicists. Zarka spoke Monday to the AP. On Tuesday, Iran state TV reported the death of another Iranian nuclear scientist, Mohammad Reza Sedighi Saber, in an Israeli strike, after he'd survived an earlier attack that killed his 17-year-old son on June 13. Targeted killings meant to discourage would-be successors Experts say that decades of Iranian work on nuclear energy — and, Western powers allege, nuclear weapons — has given the country reserves of know-how and scientists who could continue any work toward building warheads to fit on Iran's ballistic missiles. 'Blueprints will be around and, you know, the next generation of Ph.D. students will be able to figure it out,' said Mark Fitzpatrick, who specialized in nuclear non-proliferation as a former U.S. diplomat. Bombing nuclear facilities 'or killing the people will set it back some period of time. Doing both will set it back further, but it will be reconstituted.' 'They have substitutes in maybe the next league down, and they're not as highly qualified, but they will get the job done eventually,' said Fitzpatrick, now an analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London think tank. How quickly nuclear work could resume will in part depend on whether Israeli and U.S. strikes destroyed Iran's stock of enriched uranium and equipment needed to make it sufficiently potent for possible weapons use. 'The key element is the material. So once you have the material, then the rest is reasonably well-known,' said Pavel Podvig, a Geneva-based analyst who specializes in Russia's nuclear arsenal. He said killing scientists may have been intended 'to scare people so they don't go work on these programs.' 'Then the questions are, 'Where do you stop?' I mean you start killing, like, students who study physics?' he asked. 'This is a very slippery slope.' The Israeli ambassador said: 'I do think that people that will be asked to be part of a future nuclear weapon program in Iran will think twice about it.' Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons, which it has never acknowledged. Previous attacks on scientists Israel has long been suspected of killing Iranian nuclear scientists but previously didn't claim responsibility as it did this time. In 2020, Iran blamed Israel for killing its top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, with a remote-controlled machine gun. 'It delayed the program but they still have a program. So it doesn't work,' said Paris-based analyst Lova Rinel, with the Foundation for Strategic Research think tank. 'It's more symbolic than strategic.' Without saying that Israel killed Fakhrizadeh, the Israeli ambassador said 'Iran would have had a bomb a long time ago' were it not for repeated setbacks to its nuclear program — some of which Iran attributed to Israeli sabotage. 'They have not reached the bomb yet,' Zarka said. 'Every one of these accidents has postponed a little bit the program.' A legally grey area International humanitarian law bans the intentional killing of civilians and non-combatants. But legal scholars say those restrictions might not apply to nuclear scientists if they were part of the Iranian armed forces or directly participating in hostilities. 'My own take: These scientists were working for a rogue regime that has consistently called for the elimination of Israel, helping it to develop weapons that will allow that threat to take place. As such, they are legitimate targets,' said Steven R. David, a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University. He said Nazi German and Japanese leaders who fought Allied nations during World War II 'would not have hesitated to kill the scientists working on the Manhattan Project' that fathered the world's first atomic weapons. Laurie Blank, a specialist in humanitarian law at Emory Law School, said it's too early to say whether Israel's decapitation campaign was legal. 'As external observers, we don't have all the relevant facts about the nature of the scientists' role and activities or the intelligence that Israel has,' she said by email to AP. 'As a result, it is not possible to make any definitive conclusions.' Zarka, the ambassador, distinguished between civilian nuclear research and the scientists targeted by Israel. 'It's one thing to learn physics and to know exactly how a nucleus of an atom works and what is uranium,' he said. But turning uranium into warheads that fit onto missiles is 'not that simple,' he said. 'These people had the know-how of doing it, and were developing the know-how of doing it further. And this is why they were eliminated.' ___ Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report. John Leicester, The Associated Press
CTV News
23-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Iran's underground enrichment site at Fordo is attacked again, Iranian state television says
In this photo released on Monday, 23, 2025, by Iranian army press service, Iran's army commander-in-chief Gen. Amir Hatami, center, accompanied by high ranked army commanders, speaks in a video call with top commanders of the army, in Zolfaghar central headquarters, Iran, as portraits of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, left, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hang on the wall. (Iranian Army Press Service via AP)
Shafaq News
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Shafaq News
Breaking down Iran's missiles: Speed, range, and the regional equation
Shafaq News/ Tensions between Iran and Israel have brought renewed attention to the Islamic Republic's expanding missile arsenal, which plays a central role in its military strategy and regional deterrence capabilities. According to recent data compiled by regional experts and defense sources, Iran now possesses one of the most diverse and domestically produced missile programs in the Middle East, with systems ranging from short-range battlefield missiles to advanced medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs), long-range cruise missiles, and hypersonic glide vehicles. The following are the most relevant missiles: - Shahab-1 and Shahab-2: Liquid-fueled missiles based on Soviet-era designs, with ranges of approximately 300–500 km. - Fateh-110 and Fateh-313: Solid-fueled missiles with improved range (300–500 km) and satellite-guided precision. - Qiam-1: A radar-evading design with a range of up to 800 km, notable for lacking aerodynamic fins to reduce detection. - Zolfaghar: A solid-fueled missile with a 700 km range and advanced warhead separation to evade missile defense systems. - Shahab-3: One of Iran's earliest MRBMs, with a range of 1,300 km and multiple payload options. - Emad: A modified Shahab-3 variant with an extended range of 1,700 km and a maneuverable re-entry vehicle for better accuracy. - Ghadr-1 (Qadr): An MRBM with a 1,950 km range, using lighter materials for improved flight. - Sejjil: A solid-fueled, two-stage MRBM with a 2,000 km range, known for its fast launch readiness and maneuverability. - Khorramshahr: Capable of exceeding 2,000 km, this missile reportedly reaches hypersonic speeds and incorporates terminal guidance. - Kheibar Shekan: A next-generation missile with advanced internal navigation and curved flight paths to evade interception. - Qasem Soleimani missile: A newly developed precision-guided missile derived from the Qiam series, built for accuracy and evasion. - Soumar: A long-range cruise missile modeled after the Russian Kh-55, with a range between 2,000 and 3,000 km. Its low-altitude trajectory makes it harder to detect. - Fattah: Iran's first hypersonic missile, revealed in June 2023. With a range of around 1,400 km and speeds exceeding Mach 5, it can maneuver mid-flight, complicating interception by air defenses. Strategic Shift By transitioning from liquid-fueled to solid-fueled systems, Iran has enhanced its launch speed, operational flexibility, and survivability in the event of preemptive strikes. In recent confrontations, including Operation True Promise 3 — Iran's retaliation for Israeli strikes on its nuclear and military infrastructure — Tehran deployed multiple variants of its ballistic missile systems, including the Fateh, Zolfaghar, and Emad classes. Defense analysts say the inclusion of hypersonic and long-range cruise platforms in Iran's arsenal increases its ability to strike targets with precision across the Gulf, the Levant, and beyond. The missiles also pose a challenge to existing missile defense systems, particularly when launched in large numbers or from multiple directions. Iran maintains that its missile program is defensive. However, regional powers and Western officials have voiced growing concern over the increasing accuracy and reach of Iranian projectiles, particularly in light of their use in Syria, Iraq, and, most recently, Israel.
Al-Ahram Weekly
30-03-2025
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Israeli army says intercepts missile fired from Yemen's Houthis - War on Gaza
The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen on Sunday after it activated air raid sirens across multiple areas of the country. "Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted by the IAF (air force) prior to crossing into Israeli territory," the military said in a statement. Yemen's Houthi rebels said later in a statement they fired a missile at Israel's Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv. The group's military spokesperson added an Iranian-made "Zolfaghar ballistic missile" was used in the attack. The Houthis have regularly fired missiles at Israel since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7, 2023. The Houthi rebels, who have also targeted shipping vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since the Gaza war began, say they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The rebels had paused their campaign during the weeks-long truce in Gaza, which ended on March 18 when Israel resumed its bombardment of the Palestinian territory. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
