Iran has shown no interest in relinquishing its ability to threaten its partners to talks on its nuclear program in Vienna. The country recently announced it had made unprecedented progress in its missile program, including developing missiles that could threaten Western states.
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According to a follow-up report by Michael Segall of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and citing reports in Iranian media outlets, the country has made significant upgrades to its missile program.
Segall's report noted a newspaper closely aligned with conservatives in the Shiite country had determined an experiment involving solid propellant and carried out recently could see Iran increase the range of its missiles to 5,000 kilometers (around 3,100 miles) and threaten European states. The newspaper praised Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's government, which it said was standing firm in negotiations with the West, in particular on the country's efforts to develop its missile program.
The Farheekhtegan newspaper, which is aligned with the Iranian regime's conservative factions, reported this week that Iran could aspire to increase its ballistic missile range, and the development of a missile capable of reaching targets 5,000 kilometers away was "closer than ever."
The newspaper interpreted recent remarks by the commander of the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, to mean Tehran planned to increase the range of its ballistic missiles.
On Thursday, the country's state-run IRNA news agency quoted Hajizadeh as saying the Guards had successfully tested an engine for a solid-fuel satellite carrier rocket. He said it marked the first time Iran used a solid-fuel rocket rather than a liquid-fuel one and that the country would produce lighter rocket engines in further space projects.
Addressing a group of clerics in the city of Qom, the general said the satellite carrier was made of a composite material instead of metal – something he claimed was "cost-efficient." He said Iran was forcefully pursuing its goals in the aerospace and satellite fields.
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