Iran has dropped the self-imposed 2,000km limit on the range of its ballistic missiles, a spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said, in a move framed as both deterrence and bargaining leverage.
Brigadier-General Hossein Mohebbi, the IRGC spokesman, told a news conference in Tehran on Saturday that “this limitation has been lifted for us”, Al Jazeera reported in an explainer published on Tuesday.
The cap restricted Iranian ballistic missiles to a range of 2,000km, or about 1,250 miles. Al Jazeera’s account does not say when the limit was originally adopted.
What a longer range would mean
The practical significance lies in what the next increment would cover. Analyst Mohamed Taheri told Al Jazeera that at a range of 4,000km, most of Europe and roughly most of North Africa would fall within reach. The United States and its European allies have been concerned that Iran could target American bases in the Indian Ocean as well as sites in Europe.
The announcement came days after Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei warned that any kind and level of threat from the United States or Israel would be met with a response not limited by geography.
Timing
The move lands in the middle of an intensifying diplomatic effort to end the US-Israel war on Iran. President Donald Trump spoke of “positive momentum” towards ending hostilities after talks with Qatar’s prime minister on Tuesday.
Al Jazeera’s reading is that the decision serves two purposes at once: it signals deterrence, while giving Tehran something to trade. Having publicly removed the cap, Iran can offer to restore it as a concession at the negotiating table.
The announcement follows the repositioning of US refuelling aircraft from Britain to Germany and other locations last week, reported on Tuesday, which a US official attributed to an unspecified Iran-related threat.
Sourcing note
No Sri Lankan newsroom has carried this announcement, and searches of other verified international outlets did not return independent coverage of Mohebbi’s remarks. This report therefore rests on a single source, and the range figures above are Al Jazeera’s.
