Iranian Vice President for Executive Affairs Mohammad-Jafar Ghaempanah said Tehran wants to extend the range of its missiles far enough to reach the United States, invoking the White House while contrasting that objective with attacks on U.S. military installations in Saudi Arabia.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
A senior Iranian government official said Friday that Tehran wants to develop missiles capable of reaching the United States, specifically invoking the White House while discussing how Iran wants its long-range strike capabilities to evolve.
Mohammad-Jafar Ghaempanah, Iran’s vice president for executive affairs, made the remarks during an appearance on Iranian state television.
Ghaempanah said he had previously discussed Iran’s missile ambitions with Saudi officials and told them Tehran wanted weapons with sufficient range to reach the United States.
His argument, as described in the broadcast, was that longer-range missiles would give Iran the ability to threaten the White House rather than attacking U.S. military installations located inside Saudi Arabia.
Ghaempanah did not provide further information about when the conversation with Saudi officials occurred, who participated on the Saudi side or precisely what was said during the exchange.
He also did not provide technical specifications for the weapons he was discussing, identify a missile under development with sufficient range to reach the continental United States or offer a timeline for achieving such a capability.
The distinction is significant because the remarks described an ambition for future missile range rather than an assertion that Iran currently possesses a missile capable of striking Washington.
Ghaempanah has recently spoken publicly about Iran’s missile and drone programs as a central component of the country’s ability to confront the United States. In remarks reported by Iranian media this week, he credited Iranian scientific and technological capabilities with producing missiles and drones that he said allowed the country to stand against U.S. military power.
His latest comments place the United States itself, rather than American military installations elsewhere in the Middle East, at the center of that discussion.
Iran has historically possessed extensive missile capabilities capable of threatening targets across the Middle East. During periods of heightened confrontation with Washington, Iranian officials have repeatedly warned that U.S. military installations in the Persian Gulf and surrounding countries could become targets if the United States attacked Iran. Analysts earlier this year assessed that Tehran retained short- and medium-range ballistic missiles capable of striking American interests throughout the region.
Ghaempanah’s reference to Saudi Arabia comes against that background.
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries host or sit near American military facilities that Iran has viewed as potential targets during confrontations with Washington. Tehran has previously sought to pressure regional governments by warning that U.S. bases on their territory could expose those countries to Iranian retaliation during an American attack.
The vice president’s comments suggest that Tehran views development of substantially longer-range missiles as one possible way to shift that strategic equation by creating the ability to threaten targets directly inside the United States rather than relying on attacks against American forces positioned in neighboring countries.
The remarks do not establish that Iran has made a formal decision to build an intercontinental-range missile system or that such a weapon is currently approaching deployment.
They nevertheless represent unusually direct rhetoric from a senior Iranian government official about the desire to acquire a missile range capable of reaching the U.S. homeland — with Ghaempanah specifically naming the White House while explaining the rationale.
Original article
Comments