{"id":254036,"date":"2025-09-25T16:47:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T16:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/254036\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T16:47:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T16:47:10","slug":"iran-has-likely-carried-out-an-undeclared-missile-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/254036\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran has likely carried out an undeclared missile test"},"content":{"rendered":"

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Iran<\/a> has likely carried out an undeclared missile test at its Imam Khomeini Spaceport, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed Thursday, underlining Tehran\u2019s effort to maintain its weapons program despite the 12-day war with Israel in June<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Iran has not formally acknowledged last week\u2019s test at a circular pad that has hosted other major launches by the country\u2019s civilian space program<\/a>. A single lawmaker in Iran\u2019s parliament, however, claimed, without offering evidence, that Tehran tested a possible intercontinental ballistic missile. <\/p>\n

The test and the claim raise concerns that Iran may be trying to expand the reach of its missiles as tensions remain high ahead of United Nations sanctions, which are likely to be reimposed<\/a> this weekend over Tehran\u2019s nuclear program \u2014 as it also repairs missile sites that were struck by the Israelis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael\u2019s successes in the 12-day war against Iran\u2019s missile attacks reinforced for Tehran the importance of developing more ballistic missiles and qualitatively better versions of them,\u201d said Behnam Ben Taleblu, an analyst at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. The think tank has long been critical of Iran and has been sanctioned by Tehran<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cConsider this part of Tehran\u2019s efforts to build back better, and as quickly as possible,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Scorch marks seen on the launch pad<\/p>\n

On Sept. 18, Iranian social media users posted images of the sky over Semnan province, showing what appeared to be a rocket\u2019s contrail at sunset. Iranian officials did not acknowledge what caused the contrail, nor did Iranian state media report on the incident. <\/p>\n

Satellite photos taken prior to that by Planet Labs PBC show the circular pad at Imam Khomeini Spaceport \u2014 about 230 kilometers (145 miles) southeast of Iran\u2019s capital, Tehran, in Semnan \u2014 painted blue ringed with red, white and green lines \u2014 the colors of the Iranian flag. <\/p>\n

But in satellite images since Sept. 18, the pad appeared discolored, though it wasn\u2019t fully clear until a more-detailed Planet image requested by the AP taken this Wednesday. That image shows significant scorch marks, the pattern of which resembled scorching seen at the pad<\/a> following past launches. When rockets launch, the flames from their engines pour down onto pads. <\/p>\n

Fabian Hinz, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, who studies missiles, said the scale of the scorching suggested Iran launched a solid-fuel missile, as burning aluminum oxide particles cause such marks. <\/p>\n

The north-south marks suggest a blast deflector being used as well to channel the flames, he said. <\/p>\n

The claim of an intercontinental ballistic missile<\/p>\n

Iranian parliament member Mohsen Zanganeh, appearing on Iranian state television on Saturday, claimed that the Islamic Republic had launched an intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday. He portrayed it as a sign of Iran\u2019s strength as it faces challenges from Israel and the West. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have neither abandoned (nuclear) enrichment, nor handed uranium over to the enemy, nor backed down from our missile positions,\u201d said Zanganeh, a member of parliament\u2019s budget committee from Iran\u2019s Khorasan Razavi province. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe night before last we tested one of the country\u2019s most advanced missiles, which until now had not, so to speak, been trialed \u2014 and that test was successful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other words,\u201d he added. \u201cI mean to say that even under these conditions we are conducting a security test of an intercontinental-range missile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zanganeh did not elaborate on where he got his information, nor did he provide any evidence to support his assertion. Iranian parliament members have made exaggerated claims in the past.<\/p>\n

Intercontinental ballistic missiles typically have ranges greater than 5,500 kilometers (3,415 miles). That would extend far beyond the range reportedly allowed by Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a>, which is 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles).<\/p>\n

The range of 2,000 kilometers encompasses much of the Middle East, including Israel and American military bases in the region. An intercontinental missile would at least put all of Europe in rage. The U.S. military\u2019s Central Command, which oversees its Mideast operations, did not respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n

Questions remain over the launch<\/p>\n

Despite the lawmaker\u2019s claims, there are still many questions surrounding the launch \u2014 including just what Iran sent into the sky. <\/p>\n

Iran has in the past used the pad to launch solid-fueled missiles called Zuljanah<\/a>, named after a horse of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and a key figure in the Shiite faith who was massacred with his fighters at Karbala in the 7th century.<\/p>\n

The Zuljanah can launch satellites in space. However, the fact that it uses solid fuel and is capable of reaching space has raised concerns by the U.S. government that Iran could potentially build an intercontinental ballistic missile. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf, as is increasingly being alleged, the test was of a space-launch vehicle, it represents a desire by Tehran to potentially threaten targets outside the Middle East, like the European continent and even the American homeland,\u201d Taleblu said. <\/p>\n

Such missiles can deliver nuclear weapons, but Iran long has maintained its nuclear program is peaceful. U.S. intelligence agencies also assess that Iran is not actively pursuing an atomic bomb, though it had been enriching uranium to up to 60% purity \u2014 a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Iran also would need to miniaturize any possible nuclear bomb to put it atop a ballistic missile.<\/p>\n

With Iran not formally acknowledging the launch and the erratic contrail that was left behind, the likelihood is that the launch may have failed. There\u2019s also no acknowledgment by U.S. space officials of Iran putting any new satellites into space on Sept. 18. <\/p>\n

Iran may also have used the launch to signal to the West that it will continue its missile program, despite sanctions and pressure \u2014 though without a formal confirmation, it remains unclear just what Tehran was trying to do. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is that so much happens with Iran,\u201d Hinz said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to say what is coincidental and what is a pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Iran has likely carried out an undeclared missile test at its Imam…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":254037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[97,38095,134118,57,83,3461,99,50,80,23929,16523,2053,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-254036","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","9":"tag-ap-investigations","10":"tag-fabian-hinz","11":"tag-general-news","12":"tag-iran","13":"tag-iran-government","14":"tag-israel","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-ruhollah-khomeini","18":"tag-space-launches","19":"tag-tehran","20":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115265958545364471","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}