Iran's IRGC claims self-imposed ballistic missile range limit 'has been lifted'

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has announced that a self-imposed restriction limiting the range of its ballistic missiles to 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) “has been lifted”. The move could open the door for Tehran to pursue longer-range missile capabilities amid growing fears of a renewed full-scale conflict with the United States and Israel.

According to news agency AP, IRGC spokesman general Hossein Mohebbi made the remarks at a press conference in Tehran on Saturday. Asked whether the restriction on missile range remained in place, Mohebbi said, “That restriction has been lifted for us.” He added that Iran would demonstrate its capabilities rather than make further statements. “We will demonstrate these capabilities in practice,” he said, according to reports.

The announcement came days after a statement attributed to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khomeini, warned that “any kind and level of threat” from the US or Israel would be met with a response without geographical limits. The 2,000-kilometre range had placed parts of Greece and the Balkans, the entire Arabian Peninsula, the Levant and most of Egypt within the reach of Iran’s ballistic missiles, according to The Times of Israel. However, Mohebbi did not say whether Iran currently possesses missiles capable of travelling beyond that distance. Iran is not known to have operational ballistic missiles with a range exceeding 2,000 kilometres.

US officials have previously warned that technology developed through Iran’s space programme could potentially be repurposed to build intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). In March, Iran reportedly attempted, but failed, to strike the joint US-UK military base at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, approximately 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) away, The Times of Israel reported.

The missile announcement comes as military tensions continue across the region. The US Central Command said on Saturday that American forces had disabled a St Kitts-flagged commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman after it allegedly ignored repeated warnings and attempted to leave the region after visiting an Iranian port. The US has been enforcing a naval blockade on Iran around the Strait of Hormuz, a key global shipping route. Tehran, meanwhile, has maintained pressure on the waterway and claimed attacks on tankers. The Iranian military said on Saturday that two tankers had struck mines and caught fire in the area.

Separately, NBC News reported that some of US President Donald Trump’s advisers had told him, five days before Tuesday’s midterm elections, that any decision to resume major combat operations against Iran should be taken before the new Congress is sworn in in January.

The IRGC’s announcement does not establish that Iran has already developed longer-range missiles.