So Much for Iran’s “Limited” Missile Program

Iran’s attempted strike on the U.S.-U.K. base blew apart years of comforting nonsense about its missile limits. Tehran said it stopped at 1,200 miles. Then it tried to reach nearly twice that far.

Source: Israel Defense Forces

Buckle up, I’ve got some shocking news: Iran lied.

I know. Give yourself a moment to take it in.

Of course, anyone with a functioning prefrontal cortex and even a passing relationship with reality already knows the Islamic Republic lies about everything. But the anti-American demoralization campaign has been so relentless that plenty of people have ended up talking as though Iran should be taken at its word, while Israel and the United States should be treated as the habitual deceivers.

So let’s walk through the latest lie.

Iran’s Latest Lie

For years, the Iranian regime wanted the world to believe its missile program stopped at under 2,000 kilometers (1242 miles). In late February, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said exactly that, insisting Tehran had intentionally capped its range. "We are not developing long range missiles. We have limited range to below 2,000 kilometers intentionally," he said. "We don’t want it to be a global threat. We only have [the missiles] to defend ourselves. Our missiles build deterrence."

Then over the weekend, Iran fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles toward Diego Garcia, a joint U.S.-British base roughly 2,500 miles (approx. 4,000 kilometers) from Iran. According to the Wall Street Journal, one missile failed mid-flight, while a U.S. warship fired an SM-3 interceptor at the other. It’s still unclear whether the intercept succeeded.

Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago. U.S. Navy. Source: eol.jsc.nasa.gov

This matters in the most immediate military sense. A regime that can reach Diego Garcia can threaten a far wider map of American bases, troops, and infrastructure than it admitted. It also means Europe should stop pretending geography offers some magical protection from the rest of the world. Berlin is about 2,175 miles from Tehran, Paris is about 2,610, and London is about 2,734. After a launch toward Diego Garcia, Berlin is plainly inside the demonstrated envelope, and Paris and London suddenly look a lot less theoretical.

Iran Unintentionally Justifies Operation Epic Fury

Now that Tehran has been caught lying about missile range, world governments and wayward podcasters alike need to stop treating its other strategic assurances as gospel. The same regime that lied about the reach of its ballistic missiles still wants the world to pretend its nuclear ambitions are harmless. And crazy as it sounds, some influential commentators are still eager to indulge the fiction. (Here’s looking at you, Tucker.)

This development, by itself, justifies President Trump’s decision to launch Operation Epic Fury. Recall that one of the operation’s stated objectives was destroying Iran’s ballistic missile capacity. That objective doesn’t need much explanation after this weekend. Iran’s missile program was already dangerous. Now we know its real reach was far greater than advertised. That alone is enough to treat it as a strategic threat that had to be hit.