The Zolfaghar ( fa, ذوالفقار) missile is an Iranian road-mobile, single-stage, solid-propelled

SRBM A short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range of about or less. In past and potential regional conflicts, these missiles have been and would be used because of the short distances between some countries and their rela ...

named after

Zulfiqar Zulfiqar ( ar, ذُو ٱلْفَقَار, Ḏū-l-Faqār, ), also spelled ''Zu al-Faqar'', ''Zulfikar'', ''Dhu al-Faqar'', ''Dhulfaqar'' or ''Dhulfiqar'', is the sword of Ali ibn Abi Talib. Middle Eastern weapons are commonly inscribed wi ...

the sword of

Ali ibn Abi Talib ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

. It is believed to be derived from the

Fateh-110 The Fateh-110 ( fa, فاتح-۱۱۰ "conqueror"), also known as NP-110 is an Iranian solid-fueled surface-to-surface ballistic missile produced by Iran's Aerospace Industries Organization since 2002. It is single-stage, road-mobile and can car ...

family (possibly the

Fateh-313 Fateh-313 ( fa, فاتح-313, "Conqueror-313"), an Iranian solid-fuel short-range ballistic missile, was unveiled on 21 August 2015. The Fateh-313 missile is the newest model within the Fateh missiles family. It is almost identical to the previous ...

missile). The

Aerospace Industries Organization Aerospace Industries Organization (AIO, fa, سازمان صنایع هوافضا) is a subordinate of the Iranian defence ministry and a leading high-tech complex headquartered in Tehran. It is a key player in development and production of space ...

unveiled the. weapon in 2016. It entered service in 2017. It was first used in the 2017 Deir ez-Zor missile strike and was therefore one of the first used mid-range missiles since 30 years.

Design

According to Iranian sources, the Zolfaghar missile has a length of 10.3m, a diameter of 0.68m, and a launch weight of 4620kg with a warhead weighing 579kg that is designed to separate in midcourse phase, making it more difficult to detect, track and intercept than unibody missiles like the

9K720 Iskander The 9K720 Iskander (russian: «Искандер»; NATO reporting name SS-26 Stone) is a mobile short-range ballistic missile system produced and deployed by the Russian military. The missile systems () are to replace the obsolete OTR-21 ''T ...

History

It was first unveiled during a military parade aboard a vehicle decorated with an anti-Zionist banner on 25 September 2016 after which Defense Minister Hossein Dehqan claimed that the missile had a range of 700 km. The Iranian Ministry of Defense would later on release a video of its testing. On 17 June 2017 Iran launched six Zolfaghar missiles into Syria towards the

Deir ez-Zor , population_urban = , population_density_urban_km2 = , population_density_urban_sq_mi = , population_blank1_title = Ethnicities , population_blank1 = , population_blank2_title = Religions , population_blank2 = ...

region on

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

targets as a response to the attack in Tehran on 8 June 2017. In February 2019 Iran unveiled a new longer range version of the Zolfaghar missile called the Dezful missile with a range of 1000 km, this is an

MRBM A medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) is a type of ballistic missile with medium range, this last classification depending on the standards of certain organizations. Within the U.S. Department of Defense, a medium-range missile is defined b ...

. On 7 March 2021, Yemeni

Houthi The Houthi movement (; ar, ٱلْحُوثِيُّون ''al-Ḥūthīyūn'' ), officially called Ansar Allah (' ''Partisans of God'' or ''Supporters of God'') and colloquially simply Houthis, is an Islamist political and armed movement that ...

attacked different locations in Saudi Arabia with ballistic missiles and armed drones with a Zolfaghar ballistic missile along with several Samad-3 loitering munitions targeted the Aramco oil facilities at

Ras Tanura Ras Tanura ( ar, رأس تنورة, Ra's Tannūrah, lit=cape oven, cape brazier, presumably due to the unusual heat prevalent at the cape that projects into the sea) is a city in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia located on a peninsula extend ...

Operators

State-operators

Future operators

* – An intelligence assessment shared in October 2022 with Ukrainian and U.S. officials contended that Iran’s armaments industry was preparing a first shipment of

and Zolfaghar missiles to Russia. Western media reported the sale was confirmed by the Iranian side later in October. Iran rejected the Western "media hype" over the delivery of Iranian missiles to Russia. The foreign minister said that "what they have said about the missiles is completely wrong."

References