An Iranian Revolutionary Guards general claimed Thursday that the Islamic democracy has developed a hypersonic bullet able of piercing all defence systems, raising enterprises from the UN nuclear watchdog.
Hypersonic missiles, like traditional ballistic dumdums which can deliver nuclear munitions, can fly more than five times the speed of sound.
“This hypersonic ballistic bullet was developed to fight air defence securities,” General Amirali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps aerospace unit said, quoted by Iran’s Fars news agency.
“It’ll be suitable to transgress all the systems of anti-missile defence,” said the general, adding that he believed it would take decades before a system able of interdicting it’s developed.
“This bullet, which targets adversary anti-missile systems, represents a great generational vault in the field of missiles.”
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) Rafael Grossi expressed enterprises about the advertisement.
“We see that all these adverts increase the attention, increase the enterprises, increase the public attention to the Iranian nuclear programme,” Grossi told AFP on the sidelines of the COP27 climate peak in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
But he added that he doesn’t see this as “having any influence” on accommodations over the Islamic democracy’s nuclear programme.
The advertisement comes after Iran admitted on Saturday that it had transferred drones to Russia, but said it had done so before the Ukraine war.
The Washington Post reported on October 16 that Iran was preparing to transport dumdums to Russia, but Tehran rejected the report as “fully false”.
Stalled nuclear addresses
It also comes at a time of protest that have rocked Iran since the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini after her arrest for allegedly despising the Islamic democracy’s dress law for women.
Unlike ballistic dumdums, hypersonic dumdums fly on a line low in the atmosphere, potentially reaching targets more snappily.
North Korea’s test of a hypersonic bullet last time sparked enterprises in the race to acquire the technology, which is presently led by Russia, followed by China and the United States.
Both Iran and Russia are targeted by strict warrants — Iran after the US unilaterally pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal, and Russia since it raided Ukraine in February.
The two countries have responded to the warrants by boosting cooperation in crucial areas to help prop up their husbandry.
Iran on Wednesday hosted Russia’s security chief Nikolai Patrushev for addresses on subjects that the Russian side said included “the fight against terrorism and unreasonableness” as well as measures to fight Western hindrance.
A hypersonic bullet is manoeuvrable, making it harder to track and defend against.
While countries like the United States have developed systems designed to defend against voyage and ballistic dumdums, the capability to track and take down a hypersonic bullet remains a question.
Thursday’s advertisement comes against a background of stalled addresses on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.
The deal reached with six major powers — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US — gave Iran relief from warrants in return for guarantees it couldn’t develop an infinitesimal armament.
Iran has always denied wanting a nuclear magazine.
The deal collapsed after the US’s unilateral pullout in 2018 under also chairman Donald Trump.
Warning to Saudi Arabia
Iran’s claim to have developed a hypersonic bullet also follows its advertisement on November 5 of the successful test flight of a rocket able of propelling satellites into space.
The United States has constantly uttered concern that similar launches could boost Iran’s ballistic bullet technology, extending to the implicit delivery of nuclear warheads.
In March, the US government assessed warrants on Iran’s bullet-related conditioning.
Iran on Wednesday advised its neighbours including Saudi Arabia that it would avenge moves to destabilise it amid the demurrers sparked by Amini’s death.
“I would like to say to Saudi Arabia that our fortune and that of other countries in the region are linked to each other,” Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib said.
“Iran has so far espoused strategic tolerance but it can not guarantee that it’ll maintain this strategic tolerance if conflict against it continues.”
Still, their glass palaces will collapse and they will no longer enjoy stability, said Khatib, If the Islamic democracy decides to discipline these countries.
The minister has also advised Britain it would “pay” for harbouring hostile Persian- language media reporting on the Amini protest.
