Iran unveils terrifying new hypersonic missiles to 'bypass Israel's Iron Dome'
Iran's latest military development has sparked concerns the regime could provide allies in Russia and proxies in the Middle East with new weapons.
Iran claims to have expanded its military capabilities with the creation of a new hypersonic ballistic missile.
The Fattah-2 missile was allegedly unveiled only five months after the Fattah model which Tehran claims could hit a target up to 870 miles away.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)'s aerospace force is believed to have presented the new missile model to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a visit to Ashura Aerospace Science and Technology University.
Local network Al-Monitor said officials have not outlined how the new missile would provide an improved performance compared to the earlier model.
The Fattah unveiled in June "can bypass the most advanced anti-ballistic missile systems of the United States and the Zionist regime, including Israel's Iron Dome," according to Iranian TV.
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Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior fellow at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, warned the announcement should be "taken with a pinch of salt" but admitted the claim sparks some concerns.
Taleblu told Fox News: "While a genuine hypersonic capability would be a huge step forward for Iranian ballistic missiles, the claim should be taken with a grain of salt.
"Earlier this year, the regime put forward a maneuvering re-entry vehicle (MaRV) as a hypersonic ballistic missile.
"Several Iranian ballistic missiles already re-entered the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds."
He suggested a new missile model could signal Iran is preparing to provide its allies with new weaponry.
He added: "While Iran’s IRGC aerospace force and ministry of defense-related contractors have significantly grown Iranian missile capabilities, a move toward hypersonic glide vehicles could be a harbinger of a resumption of high-level state assistance, perhaps Russian or North Korean."
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Iran also has close relations with Hamas, the Houthis and Hezbollah, whose militants have repeatedly targeted Israeli infrastructure over the past month.
The conflict has resulted in a heightened presence of US soldiers across the Middle East.
On Wednesday, a major Iranian-backed militant group in Iraq warned it may strike additional US targets after American warplanes killed multiple militants.
The strike was a retaliatory attack in response to the first use of short-range ballistic missiles against US forces at Al-Asad Air Base Monday.
US fighter jets struck a Kataib Hezbollah operations center and a Kataib Hezbollah command and control node near Al Anbar and Jurf al Saqr, south of Baghdad, on Tuesday, two defense officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide additional sensitive details of the attacks.
There were Kataib Hezbollah personnel at both sites at the time of the strikes, but the officials said they could not yet confirm whether anyone there was killed.
The dangerous back-and-forth strikes have escalated since Iranian-backed militant groups under the umbrella group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and Syria began striking US facilities October 17, the date that a blast at a hospital in Gaza killed hundreds.
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