Iran Insists Its Missile Activities Are Legitimate

Spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Wednesday ruled out “the interventionist statements of some Western countries regarding the unveiling of the Fattah missile”, stating that the missile activities of the country are “defensive and are completely legitimate based on international laws”.

In a veiled criticism of the regime's enemies, he said: “These countries, which have a long history of violating international obligations in various fields, including nuclear tests, the non-proliferation regime and hosting nuclear missiles, as well as playing a destructive role in regional and international issues, have no right to comment on the legitimate and fully defensive capabilities of Iran.”

Iran unveiled what it described as its first domestically made hypersonic ballistic missile on Tuesday, while available facts about the weapon cast doubt on the claim.

The hypersonic missile allegedly has a range of 1,400 kilometers, can breach and overcome all anti-missile shields, and hits speeds of Mach 13-15, which means about 13 to 15 times faster than the speed of sound -- known as Mach 1.

Washington, for its part, did not directly comment on the missile, but National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said Washington “has been very … firm on pushing back on Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region, to include the development of an improving ballistic missile program”.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant brushed aside Iranian claims that it had developed a new hypersonic missile Tuesday, saying Israel would always have a solution to counter it.