Iran's latest missile adds to alarm over growing nuclear threat

By Global Watch and AFP | 2025-02-03

Iran unveiled a new ballistic missile on February 2 amid growing fears about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

The missile was showcased at a Tehran ceremony attended by President Masoud Pezeshkian. With a reported range of 1,700 km, the missile could potentially threaten regional adversaries and heighten tensions with Western nations, which have long accused Iran of using its ballistic missile program to destabilize the Middle East and advance its nuclear capabilities.

State television broadcast images of the missile, dubbed Etemad, or "trust" in Persian, noting its range and calling it "the most recent ballistic missile" built by the Iranian Defense Ministry.

Iran's missiles -- including this newest design -- are capable of reaching its arch-foe Israel, which it targeted twice last year as the Gaza war spilled over.

"The development of defense capabilities and space technologies... aims to ensure that no country dares to attack Iranian territory," Pezeshkian said in a televised address.

Three domestically produced satellites were also presented at the ceremony: a roughly 34-kg communications model called Navak, as well as updated versions of the Pars-1 and Pars-2.

The latter two are imaging models used to monitor "the environment, emergency situations and urban management," according to the official IRNA news agency.

The ceremony took place on Iran's national aerospace day and a few days before the 46th anniversary of the creation of the Islamic republic on February 10, 1979.

Tehran in recent months has made multiple shows of force, including large-scale military exercises and the presentation of underground military bases.

It also revealed a new model of cruise missile on February 1 called the Ghadr-380, which a naval commander said had "anti-jamming capabilities" and a range of more than 1,000km (620 miles).

Iran, which once sourced the majority of its military equipment from its then-ally the United States, has been forced to develop its own weaponry since Washington cut off ties and imposed sanctions in the wake of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Having been under an arms embargo during a devastating war with Iraq between 1980 and 1988, Iran now has a substantial arsenal of domestically developed weapons, including missiles, air defense systems and drones.

'Pressing the gas pedal' on nuclear development

In 2018, a nuclear deal that was supposed to dismantle much of Iran's nuclear program and open it up to greater inspection in exchange for the lifting of sanctions collapsed.

All attempts to revive the 2015 accord -- signed with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany -- have since failed.

Since then, the Iranian nuclear program has continued to expand, even if Tehran denies it has a nuclear bomb.

While Tehran has signaled its willingness to restart negotiations over its nuclear program, it has also greatly increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to 60%, according to the IAEA, close to the 90% needed to make an atomic weapon.

Iran is "pressing the gas pedal" toward weapons-grade uranium, Rafael Grossi, the head of the IAEA, told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January.

Tehran's nuclear program has grown "dramatically" in terms of capabilities, facilities and inventory of nuclear material since 2021, Grossi said.

In November, Mohammad-Javad Larijani, a former adviser to Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, said the Iranian nuclear program is "unstoppable" as its stockpile of enriched uranium reaches all-time high levels.

Larijani asserted the country could achieve nuclear weapon capability within 24 hours during a November 18 television interview on IRINN TV.4

Disputing European assessments of a 48-hour timeline, Larijani insisted Iran could reach military nuclear capability in half that time.

He emphasized Iran's strategic deterrence, warning that external threats would prompt immediate policy changes from Tehran and a "decisive response," while declaring the nuclear program "unstoppable."