Iran has successfully tested a Khorramshahr 4 ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers and capable of carrying a warhead weighing 1,500 kilograms, state media reported on Thursday, Reuters and Agerpres reported.

According to the state news agency IRNA, the missile is called Khaibar, referring to the Jewish fortress conquered by Muslim fighters at the beginning of the spread of Islam. The Khybar missile, the fourth generation of the Khorramshahr series, is 13 meters long, equipped with liquid fuel engines and is more accurate than previous versions, the Mehr news agency reported.

The test came 41 years after the victory in Khorramshahr, a city located on the border with Iraq that was captured at the start of the Iran-Iraq war between 1980 and 1988 and then retaken by the Iranian military in May 1982.

Iran, which has one of the largest missile programs in the Middle East, says its weapons can reach Israel and US bases in the region, and Tehran says it will continue to develop the program despite opposition from the US and European countries. , which he describes as “defensive.”

“Our message to Iran’s enemies is that we will defend our country and its achievements. Our message to our friends is that we want to contribute to regional stability,” said Iranian Defense Minister Mohammadreza Ashtiani.

New escalation of tensions between Iran and Israel

Tensions between the two countries in the Middle East have risen again recently, after Ebrahim Raisi, an Islamist hardliner in relations with the West, won the presidential election in Iran, and in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power with the most radical right-wing government in the country’s history. .

Negotiations to get Tehran back into the Iran nuclear deal also failed, but Israel still expressed opposition, saying Iran still had no intention of complying with its terms. Benjamin Netanyahu has been the most vocal critic of the deal signed in 2015, repeatedly accusing the Iranian government of continuing to enrich uranium for its nuclear program.

The Khaibar missile launch came less than two months after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards accused Israel of killing one of its officers in Syria in an airstrike in Damascus in late March.

The Revolutionary Guards vowed to respond to the attack, which they called “criminal,” stressing that the killing of their officer “will not go unanswered.”

Israel has for years struck what it says are Iranian-linked targets in Syria, a country where Tehran’s influence has grown since the Islamist government decided to back President Bashar al-Assad during the civil war that began in 2011.

Iran says its officers are acting as advisers in Syria, being in the country at the invitation of the government in Damascus. Dozens of senior Revolutionary Guard Corps officers have been killed in the country led by Bashar al-Assad during the conflict.