TEHRAN – Iran revealed a new ballistic missile on Sunday that it said was capable of traveling 1,700 kilometers, unveiling it in a Tehran ceremony attended by President Masoud Pezeshkian.
State television broadcast images of the missile, dubbed Etemad, or “trust” in Persian, saying it had a maximum range of 1,700 kilometres (1,056 miles) and was “the most recent ballistic missile” built by the Iranian defence ministry.
Western countries have grown concerned over advances in Iran’s ballistic missile programme, accusing it of destabilizing the Middle East.
Iran’s missiles, including this newest design, are capable of reaching its arch-foe Israel, which it targeted twice last year as the Gaza war spilled over.
“The development of defense capabilities and space technologies… aims to ensure that no country dares to attack Iranian territory,” Pezeshkian said in a televised address.
The ceremony took place on Iran’s national aerospace day and a few days before the 46th anniversary of the creation of the Islamic republic on February 10, 1979.
Since the return of US President Donald Trump — who pursued a “maximum pressure” approach to Iran in his first term — Tehran has made multiple shows of force, including large-scale military exercises and the presentation of underground military bases.
At the same time, Tehran has signalled its willingness to restart negotiations over its nuclear program, which has been the subject of tensions with Western countries for decades.
Meanwhile, the government of Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region said Sunday that US military strikes in the Golis mountains had killed “key figures” in the Islamic State group.
US President Donald Trump announced the air strike late Saturday, posting on the Truth Social platform that he had ordered “precision military air strikes on the senior ISIS attack planner and other terrorists” in Somalia.
IS has a relatively small presence in Somalia compared to the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab, but experts have warned of growing activity.
The strikes were carried out in a northern region of Somalia, where the Puntland Defence Forces have been carrying out operations against IS since December. The radical group is said to have established a presence in the Golis mountains.
“Recent airstrikes have led to the neutralization of key figures within ISIS, marking a significant advancement as we progress into the second phase of our operation,” the regional government said Sunday, using an alternative name for the IS group.
It called the US involvement in air strikes “invaluable” and expressed “sincere gratitude” but the statement did not provide more details on the strikes.
A Somali government statement issued in Mogadishu said the operation in the Bari region was “jointly coordinated by the Somali and American governments” and had targeted “senior IS leaders”.
It gave no further details.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was briefed on the strikes on Saturday night, according to the president’s office, which added the attack “reinforces the strong security partnership” between the two nations.
He also expressed his “deepest gratitude” to Washington following the strikes in a post on X Sunday.
“Terrorism will neither find friends, nor any place to call home, in Puntland state and entire Somalia,” he added.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the “initial assessment is that multiple operatives were killed in the airstrikes”.
He added that no civilians were harmed in the strike.
Iran, which once sourced the majority of its military equipment from its then-ally the United States, has been forced to develop its own weaponry since Washington cut off ties and imposed sanctions in the wake of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Having been under an arms embargo during a devastating war with Iraq between 1980 and 1988, Iran now has a substantial arsenal of domestically developed weapons, including missiles, air defence systems and drones.