Iran launched 228 ballistic missiles since signing nuclear deal in 2015: Report

Iran has launched at least 228 ballistic missiles since signing its nuclear deal with world powers in 2015, according to a new report about the Islamic Republic’s missile program.

The report, titled “Arsenal: Assessing the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ballistic Missile Program,” revealed that Iran launched more than 100 ballistic missiles in 2022 alone, more than triple the number of launches in 2021.

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Written by Behnam Ben Taleblu, a Senior Fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the report highlighted that the ballistic missile launches are part of flight tests, drills, and military operations.

The 2022 launches include a ballistic missile strike in Iraq that killed an American citizen. Taleblu noted that as Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities improve, the regime may be more inclined to use them.

The Middle Eastern country has significantly improved its core capabilities, including missile range, precision, and mobility, as well as growing its underground storage depots and bases, according to the report.

The senior fellow also predicted that Iran’s regional destabilization efforts will continue to grow as its ballistic missiles evolve.

“Improvements in ballistic missile precision, range, mobility, warhead design, and survivability (including the creation of underground missile depots) imply an increasingly lethal long-range strike capability in the hands of the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism,” the report said.

“Ballistic missiles offer Tehran the means to deter, punish, and coerce adversaries,” the report noted. “They compensate for Iran’s conventional warfighting deficiencies and keep the door open for nuclear weapons.”

Iran’s ballistic missile gives the Islamic Republic “the confidence and security to pursue its revisionist foreign policy with less fear of military reprisal,” according to the report. “This may lead to increased risk-taking, including battlefield use of its arsenal. Failure to deter Iran will likely guarantee more missile use.”

The report also highlighted Iran’s provision of ballistic missiles to its proxies in Iraq, Syria Lebanon and Yemen and the threats that it poses to Gulf states, Israel and US forces in the region.

The report argueed that Iran is unlikely to curb its missile program without sustained pressure.

“Western policymakers must reach consensus on how to counter the Iranian missile threat,” it said. “Absent Western unity and resolve, the regime is certain to best the West at the negotiating table. Washington should adopt policies that disrupt, deter, devalue, and, when necessary, defang the Iranian missile program through diplomatic, informational, military, and economic means.”

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