The "North Korean Imprint" Behind Iran's Missile Strike: 4,000 km Range Is Far From the Limit!!!

Yesterday's news about Iran's missile strike on Diego Garcia Atoll shocked many — the atoll is over 4,000 kilometers from the launch site and hosts a U.S. military base.

I'll say it again: this was only surprising to many, but had long been expected by those who have closely followed Iran's missile program, and even more so, North Korea's missile program.

The reason is that Iran's missile program is largely derived from North Korea. Therefore, after North Korean missile technology was developed, it either became the prototype for Iran's new missiles or was almost entirely replicated by Iran under its own name.

The "Khorramshahr-4" missile tested by Iran in 2023 has a North Korean origin. Its prototype is the North Korean "Mars-10" missile (officially deployed in 2016).

This missile has two warhead configurations: a 500 kg light warhead (maximum range of approximately 4,000 km), and a 1,200 kg heavy warhead (capable of striking targets over 2,000 km away). Initially, Iran focused on the heavy warhead version because a 2,000 km range met its needs, and the separable 1,200 kg warhead offered significant advantages over the light warhead when targeting Israel. For this reason, this version was officially deployed with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, while the "light warhead" model was almost forgotten.

Moreover, at that time, Iran was negotiating with European countries, and having a 4,000 km range missile would be a "red rag" to Europe, potentially causing the negotiations to break down.

But I am certain that the light version missile had already entered the Iranian military's warehouse at that time. And yesterday, Iran used several of these missiles to strike a U.S. military base. It should also be clarified that Iran has now achieved the domestic production of such missiles and their supporting vehicles, meaning it no longer relies on North Korean experts (at most, it may receive some beneficial advice from North Korea during production).

But what I want to talk about today is not this, but another point: North Korea officially deployed the "Mars-12" missile as early as 2017. You should know that North Korean experts encountered many difficulties in debugging the "Mars-10", taking a long time to perfect it — the missile first failed in a test in 2006, and it wasn't officially deployed until 2016.

During this period, North Korea achieved considerable technological breakthroughs, developing a more powerful engine compatible with the "Mars-10" size and adding an additional fuel tank to it. This directly increased the range of the new missile "Mars-12": over 3,000 km for the heavy warhead and up to 6,000 km for the light warhead.

In addition, North Korea's new missile uses the same carrier as the "Mars-10".

In my opinion, if they wanted to, with the help of North Korean military experts, they could simply upgrade the "Khorramshahr-4" missile and its carrier, and Iran could soon completely strike targets 6,000 km away (and perhaps it already has this capability).

This would be a complete disaster for European countries, as such missiles can easily reach any location in the EU and the UK. Moreover, after being attacked, Iran has completely withdrawn from all nuclear obligations, and has good relations with Kim Jong-un, who is "reckless" (but his actions prove he is actually very rational), and who holds a "nuclear stick" that can be mounted on the new "Khorramshahr" missile. Given that Netanyahu and Trump failed in their attempt to destroy Tehran's resistance, if I were in the position of the EU and Israel, I would be even more fearful.

Moreover, from yesterday's case, we can see that Iran is skilled at keeping secrets and has not disclosed its true capabilities for years.

Original: toutiao.com/article/7620086127290073640/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author alone.