Iran confirmed on Sunday that it launched the Sejil against Israel. With a range of 2,000 kilometers, this missile uses solid fuel, allowing for faster launch and making it harder to be detected and destroyed before being fired.
Its range allows it to hit Israel, US bases located in the Middle Eastalready part of the southeast of Europe.
A photograph shows the medium-range surface-to-surface missile, called Sejil-2, at an undisclosed location in Iran before its test launch on May 20, 2009. (PHOTO AFP/STR/FARS NEWS).
According to Iran, the Sejil could reach Tel Aviv in less than 7 minutesdepending on the launch point.
has a length of 18 meters, a diameter of 1.25 meters and its weight is about 23 tons.
The Sejil carries an explosive charge from among 500 and 1,000 kg, depending on the configuration.
Iranian citizens walk past the Sejil (left) and Qadr-H medium-range ballistic missiles, displayed next to a portrait of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on September 25, 2017, in Tehran’s Baharestan Square. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP).
/ ATTA KENARE
In its terminal phase, the Sejil reaches a speed of Mach 13 (more than 15,000 km/h), making it a difficult target for missile defense systems.
These are the most advanced weapons that Iran possesses:
Iran’s Fattah hypersonic missile. (Creative Commons).
The Fattah-1 and Fattah-2 They are Iran’s most modern missiles. Both are hypersonic. They fly at a speed of between Mach 13 and Mach 15.
His scope is from between 1,400 and 1,500 km. They have the ability to maneuver in the air to evade anti-missile defenses.
These hypersonic missiles are important for Iran because could overcome defense systems such as Patriot, Arrow or THAAD.
He Fattah-1 carries a warhead with a weight of between 350kg and 450kg.
While the specifications of the Fattah-2 indicate that it carries a net explosive charge of 200kg.
Until now there is no confirmation that Iran has used them in combat.
A photo from May 25, 2023 shows testing of the fourth-generation Khorramshahr ballistic missile, called Khaibar, at an undisclosed location in Iran. (Photo by the Iranian Ministry of Defense / AFP).
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This heavy ballistic missile is one of the Iran’s most powerful.
It has a scope from among 1,000 and 2,000 km. Your payload reaches up to 1,800kgmuch larger than almost all Iranian missiles.
He Khorramshahr-4 can carry several warheads or one very heavy warhead. It is designed for destroy large targets, such as military bases, ports, airports, etc.
Reaches hypersonic speeds, with reports of Mach 16 out of the atmosphere and Mach 8 during re-entry.
It uses hypergolic liquid fuel, which allows rapid launches after a short preparation period.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced the use of this missile in multiple waves of attacks in the current war against the United States and Israel.
The Iranian Kheibar Shekan missile is displayed during the annual military parade commemorating the anniversary of the start of the devastating 1980-1988 war against Iraq, on September 22, 2022. (Photo: AFP).
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It is one of Iran’s most modern precision missiles.
It has a scope of 1,450 km and is designed to evade anti-missile systems.
Use solid fuel two-stage, dramatically reducing launch preparation time to less than 15 minutes.
Reaches speeds greater than Mach 8 (approx. 9,800 km/h) within the atmosphere during its terminal phase.
In the current war, this missile has been used by Iran to hit targets in Israel and US military bases in the Gulf, among other objectives.
Iran’s Soumar cruise missile. (Creative Commons).
/ MehrNews.com
Iran also has missiles that fly at low altitude to avoid radars.
One of them is the Soumarwith an estimated range of between 2,000 to 3,000 km
Another is Hoveyzeh, a modern variant of Soumar
Both are designed to long range precision attacks.
Cruise missiles are dangerous because They fly low and are difficult to detect.
Both have been used in the current war.
Iran’s Abu Mahdi anti-ship missile. (Creative Commons).
Iran has long-range anti-ship missile Abu Mahdi, designed for attack warships and aircraft carriers.
The range of the standard variant of this missile exceeds 1,000 km. Recently, a version launched from submarines has been reported that could reach up to 2.600 km.
Uses artificial intelligence to optimize your trajectoryallowing you to perform evasive maneuvers and attack targets from multiple directions simultaneously.
Fly less than 50 meters above sea level to avoid radar detection and compress the reaction time of enemy defenses.
It carries an explosive warhead of between 245kg and 410kgdesigned to cause catastrophic damage to large surface ships.
This missile is key for Iran in its purpose of closing the Strait of Hormuz.
The Iranian Hoot torpedo on display in Iran. (Creative Commons).
Iran has the torpedo supercavitating hoot (“Whale” in Persian) high-speed rocket designed specifically to destroy large warships and submarines.
It is considered one of Iran’s most dangerous weapons at seasince its technology makes it extremely difficult to intercept with conventional acoustic countermeasures (sonar).
Reaches speeds of approximately 360km/hmaking it about four times faster than a conventional torpedo.
It is estimated that it has a range of between 10 and 15 kilometers. Being a short-range and very high-speed weapon, it gives the target ship just a few seconds to react.
It can be fired from surface ships, Revolutionary Guard speedboats and submarines.
In the current situation, it has played an active role in the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Shahed drone. (AFP).
They are the weapons most used by Iran in the conflict.
The Shahed have a range of between 1,000 and 2,000 km, depending on your version.
Manufacturing them can cost between $20,000 and $50,000. Iran has the capacity to produce about 10,000 of these drones per month.
They are launched in large quantities to saturate enemy defenses.
Iran has launched thousands of drones during the waroften accompanying ballistic missile attacks.
In addition to saturating the anti-missile systems, can attack infrastructure and military bases.
The shahed is a kamikaze drone single-use that can carry an explosive charge of 40 kilos.
Iran’s military strategy for asymmetric warfare
Smoke rises from an energy facility in the emirate of Fujairah, in the Persian Gulf, after an attack by Iran on March 14, 2026. (Photo by AFP).
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The analyst on defense and intelligence issues Andrés Gómez de la Torre explains to The Commerce that the development of the Iranian military arsenal – including the ballistic missile Sejil— is the result of a strategy that dates back to the establishment of the theocracy after the Iranian Revolution.
“Since the ayatollahs came to power in 1979, the regime has placed special emphasis on building its own military capabilities”he points out.
According to the expert, this policy was consolidated during the war Iran–Iraq of the 80swhen Tehran began to depend on foreign technology—mainly former Soviet Union, North Korea and China— to develop its missile program.
He adds that from this evolution systems such as Shahabwith ranges of up to 1,300 kilometers, and later the Sejilwhich went into production around 2009.
Gómez de la Torre emphasizes that Iranian military program is not limited to ballistic missilesbut includes cruise missiles and a growing drone industry, all under the control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guardthe powerful military body that oversees the country’s military-industrial complex.
“Iran has built a wide range of systems, from short-range missiles to medium-range ballistic missiles like the Sejil, in addition to drones that have proven to be very effective”he states.
For the specialist, this diversity responds to a military doctrine based on asymmetric war, attrition and resistancewith which Tehran seeks to compensate for its inferiority compared to military powers such as the United States.
The analyst adds that the absence of some of the most advanced weapons of Iran in the current conflict with the United States and Israel could be explained by several factors. One of them is the uncertainty about the impact of recent military operations against Iranian and other infrastructure. actions that would have hit its military-industrial complex.
“There is still no clear assessment of how much Iranian technological capacity was weakened after these attacks”he maintains.
In this context, it also indicates that The selective use of weapons in war could respond both to operational limitations and to a deliberate strategy of reserving certain systems. for later phases of the war.
