A senior Iranian lawmaker said on Wednesday that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had lifted all limits to the range of Iran’s missiles, signaling a potential major shift to Tehran's defense posture after a punishing June war.
“The Islamic Republic has developed and will continue to develop its missile program to any extent it deems necessary,” said Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani, a member of parliament’s national security committee.
While Khamenei had previously capped missile range at 2,200 kilometers, he has now “removed any such limitation,” he asserted, adding that Tehran will accept “no limits on missile range,” which he described as its “most important element of military power.”
Hardline members of Iran's fractious parliament often make hawkish statements that do not ultimately reflect policy from the theocracy's highest echelons, but it is rare of MPs to specifically invoke Khamenei in their remarks.
Bakhshayesh’s assertion came a day after Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Israel of lying about Tehran’s ambitions to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles in order to deceive Washington.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US podcaster Ben Shapiro that Iran was developing missiles with an 8,000-kilometer range, capable of hitting major American cities including New York, Boston, Washington, and Miami.
“Israel … finally managed to deceive the U.S. into attacking the Iranian people,” Araghchi wrote on X, referring to Israeli and American strikes on Iran in June.
“With the failure of that action, Israel is now trying to make an imaginary threat out of our defense capabilities.”
'Not on the table'
On Tuesday, another senior Iranian official also rejected the idea of limiting Iran’s missile program, saying Washington’s proposal to cap missile range was unacceptable.
“Americans will take the wish of reducing Iran’s missile range to below 500 kilometers to the grave,” Armed Forces Judiciary chief Ahmadreza Pourkhaghan said during a meeting with Revolutionary Guard aerospace commanders.
He added that Iran is prepared to negotiate over its nuclear program but “will not hold any talks” about missiles.
Tehran's security chief Ali Larijani confirmed last month that Washington had floated the idea to limit Iran's missiles' range.
“No honorable person would accept such a condition,” Larijani said in response.
