The Israel Defence Forces confirmed on Sunday (June 22) that Israeli Air Force fighter jets flew over Iranian territory and began striking storage facilities containing long-range surface-to-surface missiles, known as “Khorramshahr,” in the Yazd area – for the first time.
Israeli Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, and Head of Air Operations, Brig. Gen. Gilad Keinan, commanded the strike in real-time from the IAF control room. This comes after Iran launched in what it described as the “20th wave” of retaliatory strikes on Israel using a wave of missile attacks including the powerful ‘Khorramshahr-4’. Israel’s Operation Rising Lion entered tenth day today.
“In broad daylight, we surprised the ‘Imam Hussein’ missile headquarters in central Iran, the furthest target we’ve struck to date. We destroyed Khorramshahr missiles before they were launched at Israel and struck tunnels used to store the missiles. We are continuing waves of strikes across Iran, disrupting the enemy’s ability to launch salvos into Israeli territory, degrading their firepower capabilities, and operating decisively to defend the Israeli home front and reduce rocket fire,” IDF said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, the IDF reported that approximately 30 IAF fighter jets, with guidance from the IDF Intelligence Directorate, struck dozens of military targets throughout Iran on Sunday with over 60 munitions. In parallel, missile launchers were struck in Isfahan, Bushehr, and Ahvaz. Strikes were also conducted on military sites involved in the production of aerial defense batteries, the ‘Third Brigade’ UAV command center, and a UAV storage facility near the command centre.
What is Khorramshahr?
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) said that among the many missiles used in the wave of strikes was the deadly Khorramshahr-4 missile, also called Kheibar. The Khorramshahr-4 missile is an Iranian liquid-fuelled, medium-range ballistic missile developed by the Iranian state-owned defence company Aerospace Industries Organisation (AIO). The Khorramshahr-4 missile was first test-fired in January 2017 and publicly displayed at a September 2017 military parade in Tehran. A variant of Khorramshahr with a smaller and lighter re-entry vehicle than the previous version was paraded in Tehran in September 2019. According to Iranian officials, the missile has a range of 2,000 km and is capable of carrying multiple warheads of up to 1,800 kg.
US hits Iran in major escalation
In a major escalation of tensions in West Asia, the US bombed three nuclear sites – Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan – in Iran and warned the Islamic Republic of more “precision strikes” if it did not end its conflict with Israel. This came days after the US president said that he would decide within ‘two weeks’ if he needs to bomb Iran. The US strike came on the ninth day of Operation Rising Lion, under which Israel hit several nuclear facilities inside Iran, killing top military officials and nuclear scientists. The Israel Defence Forces said that US strikes “were in coordination with the IDF” and it was a “crucial step stopping the Iranian regime’s aggression.”