DEBKA: Neither “Israel” Nor US Has the Capacity to Counter Iran’s Hoveyzah Missile

By Staff

Commenting on Iran’s Hoveyzah cruise missile with a range of 1,350km that was tested on Saturday, DEBKAfile’s military sources claimed that the Islamic Republic made rapid strides towards developing a medium-range missile for attacking the Zionist entity in three test launches in recent weeks.

DEBKA classified the tests as the following:

In the first, on Dec. 29, a Fajr 5 was aimed at central “Israel”; three weeks later, on Jan. 21, a Fatteh 100 was fired towards the Golan [and was intercepted]; and in the last one, marking the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, a cruise missile was hailed by Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami as accurately hitting its intended target at 1,200 km. This is the distance from Iran to “Israel.”

By test number three, the Hoveyzah, which belongs to the Soumar family of cruise missiles, Iran demonstrated that, while the “Israel’s” Military Ministry Research Administration and the US Missile Military Agency were intent on developing missiles capable of striking targets outside earth’s atmosphere, the Islamic Republic had succeeded in producing low-flying cruise missiles that fly to target under their radar. Iran is confident that neither the US nor “Israel” has the answer to this threat.

In fact, no military force in the world has so far found any effective means of intercepting cruise missiles before they strike, unless they are of short range.

Cruise missiles can hug mountains and hills and dip into valleys, thereby evading the radars of counter-missile systems.  

Therefore, the successful test of the Hoveyzah cruise missile is highly significant despite western attempts to play it down. When Brig, Gen. Hatami was appointed Defense Minister in September 2017, DEBKAfile characterized him as an enthusiast of ballistic and cruise missile development and an ardent admirer of the Al-Quds chief Brig. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. The Hoveyzah provides Soleimani with a powerful new weapon.