TEHRAN — Iran unveiled on Thursday the latest iteration of its liquid-fueled Khorramshahr ballistic missile, Defense Minister Gen. Muhammad Reza Ashtiani saying it could be prepared for launch in a short period.
Authorities showed off the Khorramshahr-4 to journalists at an event in Tehran, with the missile on a truck-mounted launcher.
“One of the prominent characteristics of this missile is its ability to evade radar detection and penetrate enemy air defense systems, thanks to its low radar signature,” Gen. Ashtiani told journalists. “This missile has the capability to utilize various warheads for different missions.”
Iranian officials described the missile as having a 2,000-kilometer (1,240-mile) range with a 1,500-kilogram (3,300-pound) warhead. They also released video footage showing a successful launch of the missile.
The Khorramshahr has the heaviest payload of Iran’s ballistic missile fleet, which analysts say may be designed to keep the weapon under a 2,000-kilometer range limit imposed by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
The Khorramshahr-4 is named after an Iranian city that was the scene of heavy fighting during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s. Iraq seized the city in the oil-rich southwestern province of Khuzestan at the start of the war, but Iran retook it over a year later.
During the event, loudspeakers broadcast the “Symphony of the Epic of Khorramshahr,” an orchestral composition marking Iranian soldiers ending the Iraqi siege of the city during the war.
Gen. Ashtiani said the missile was unveiled as part of moves to “provide comprehensive support to our friends and countries that are on the path of fighting against the domination system.”
“Our message to Iran’s enemies is that we will defend the country and its achievements,” Ashtiani said. “Our message to our friends is that we want to help regional stability.”
Tehran created its ballistic missile program after suffering through Iraqi Scud missile attacks in the conflict — and as a hedge against its Western-armed neighbors as embargoes have kept it from accessing modern attack aircraft.
The missile also is called Kheibar, after a Jewish fortress conquered by the Muslims in the 7th century — in what is now Saudi Arabia.
The speed of the high-mobility tactical missile “can reach Mach 16 outside the atmosphere and Mach 8 inside the atmosphere.”

Regional tensions likely played a role in Iran’s missile display Thursday. A miniature example of Al-Quds’ golden Dome of the Rock on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound stood next to the mobile launcher.
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington was aware of the missile report and reiterated that “Iran’s development and proliferation of ballistic missiles poses a serious threat to regional and international security.”
“These activities are all the more worrying in the context of the continuing escalation of Iran’s nuclear program,” French foreign ministry spokesperson Anne-Claire Legendre told reporters.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Friday slammed the reaction of some Western countries to the successful launch, saying they are opposed to the enhancement of the Islamic Republic’s defensive power.
In a tweet, Kanaani referred to the history of the Western countries’ arming of Saddam Hussein’s regime during the eight-year imposed war on Iran in the 1980s.
“The same Western governments, especially the U.S. and France, that played a big role in provoking and arming Saddam’s Baathist regime to attack Iran and showering Iranian cities and people with missiles, those are the main suppliers of weapons to the region, are now worried about Iran’s defensive power,” he wrote.
“They are against a powerful Iran.”