World War 3 panic: Iran unveils new ballistic missile as full-blown conflict fears rise

It also unveiled Salman engines made of the same materials, but with a “movable nozzle”, for the delivery of satellites into space.

The Raad was “a new generation missile that has half the weight of a Fateh-110 missile but with 200 kilometres more range”, the Guards Sepahnews website said.

US officials have, in the past, raised concerns about Iran’s satellite programme.

In January 2019, it described the launch of a carrier rocket as a “provocation”.

First unveiled in 2002, the Fateh-110 is a ballistic ground-to-ground missile.

Its latest updated model has a range of 186miles.

The news comes as Iran announced it was counting down to the launch of a scientific observation satellite on Sunday.

Communication minister Morteza Berari said the satellite’s ‘primary mission’ would be collecting imagery, adding that Iran needed such data to study earthquakes, deal with natural disasters and develop its agriculture.

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He noted the moveable nozzle on the new engine allowed “manoeuvrability beyond the atmosphere” and amounted to a “leap in modern missile technology”.

According to the General, the new technologies that enabled the missiles to be cheaper and lighter, not to mention faster, could be applied to all of Iran’s missile classes.

Azari-Jahromi wrote on Twitter: “Beginning countdown to launch #Zafar_Satellite in the next few hours… In the Name of God.”

source: express.co.uk