{"id":236820,"date":"2021-03-25T14:19:53","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T19:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=236820"},"modified":"2023-02-01T05:02:09","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T04:02:09","slug":"iran-regimes-ballistic-missile-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/nuclear\/iran-regimes-ballistic-missile-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran Regime\u2019s Ballistic Missile Threat Has Grown, but There\u2019s Time and Opportunity To Stop It"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"iran-regimes-ballistic-missile-threat-has-grown-but-theres-time-and-opportunity-to-stop-it\"<\/p>\n

It has been more than a decade since Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC<\/a>) rebranded its air force as the \u201cAerospace Force\u201d in order to reflect the paramilitary\u2019s growing emphasis on developing advanced missiles rather than maintaining an arsenal of outmoded military aircraft. But the name change was made in recognition of a trend that had begun decades earlier. IRGC Aerospace Force commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh acknowledged this in 2019 when he told state media documentarians that the regime began earnestly manufacturing missiles in 1984 and immediately set about digging tunnels to protect what they anticipated would be a massive stockpile.<\/p>\n

Thirty-five years later, the scope of that stockpile was highlighted for an international audience by the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI-MEK<\/a>), which revealed the existence of sprawling tunnel systems in a press conference that also addressed Tehran\u2019s culpability for a September 2019 missile and drone attack on Saudi Arabian oil infrastructure. It was only in the wake of those disclosures that state media interviewed Hajizadeh and made the underground missile stockpiles a matter of public record. And in an effort to compensate for the effects of having state secrets exposed, they did so in a way that made the regime\u2019s missile program seem like a major threat to its adversaries.<\/p>\n

<\/div>
Five facts you did not know about Iran\u2019s attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facility<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>