Iran Has No More Than Half Of Its Missiles Left
- Nikita Aronov, "Details"
- 20.06.2025, 10:56
The bottleneck is not the missiles, but the launchers for them.
Israel has destroyed up to two-thirds of Iranian launchers. Not more than half of the missiles themselves remain. But Iran claims to be using new, more advanced systems. What they are, and how accurate and dangerous they are, "Details" found out.
Half of the arsenal
Nobody knows the exact number of missiles Iran has left, and experts' calculations differ. Thus, the British newspaper Telegraph writes that at the beginning of the war Tehran had about 3000 long-range missiles.
The experts of the publication believe that about 1000 of them Israel destroyed. And the Iranians themselves launched 440. So about half of the prewar stockpile - 1,560 rockets - remains.
Dani Citrinovich, head of the expert group on Iran and the Shiite axis at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, believes there were about 2,000 rockets. Back on June 17, in an interview with Iran International, he stated that Tehran had only 1100-1200 missiles left.
Two days have passed since then, and some of the missiles have been launched and some destroyed by the IDF. So, regardless of the initial estimate, about half of Iran's missile arsenal no longer exists.
Finally, the Israeli think tank Alma said on June 15 that Iran has 1,500 to 2,000 ballistic missiles left. But this number includes those that are in no way capable of reaching Israel. For example, the Shahab-2 or the Raad 500 with a range of only 500 kilometers.
The bottleneck, however, is not the missiles, but the launchers for them. According to Reuters, Israel has destroyed two-thirds of them. And Iran now has only about 100 launchers, severely limiting its ability to launch large salvos. According to more conservative estimates, a little more than half of the available launchers have been destroyed.
Are they as accurate?"
Iran boasts that it is launching new and ultra-modern missiles at Israel. For example, the liquid-fueled Hajj Qasem, named after Kasem Suleimani, head of the Quds Force, eliminated by the US in 2020. According to Iranian claims, their missiles are adept at maneuvering the final section of the trajectory and are unusually accurate.
The Iranians say their most advanced solid-fueled missile, the Imad, is accurate to within a few tens of meters. However, the Alma center estimates its accuracy at 500 meters.
Six months ago, Details examined Alma's extensive report on Iranian weapons. And, according to the center's experts, the characteristics have not changed in any way since then.
"Iran has more accurate missiles than the Imad, but we don't know for sure which ones are in use now. They do have missiles that can maneuver in the atmosphere. The Iranians claim to have used them, but we have no confirmation," states Sarit Zehavi, president of the Alma Center.
Strikes on Areas
With regard to the new missile with a separable warhead that Iran used today, it is known that such warheads come in liquid-fueled Khorremshehrs. It is one of Iran's heaviest long-range missiles.
It is liquid-fueled and has a claimed range of 2,000 kilometers, but some estimates put it at 3,000 meters. Its payload is 1500-1800 kilograms.
This is not a purely Iranian invention. "The Khorremshehr is based on North Korea's Musudan missile, which is the product of a deep reworking of the Soviet R-27 missile of the 1960s.
In last year's Alma report, experts pointed out that the Khorremshehr has a variant with a separated warhead. But it is not a full-fledged separating warhead like the Soviet intercontinental missiles, but something like an enlarged cluster bomb.
The IDF said that just such a thing flew into Gush Dan on Thursday morning. At an altitude of 7 kilometers, the warhead separated and scattered 2.5 kilogram submunitions in a radius of 8 kilometers.
"However, this warhead can be used in other missiles. It is not necessarily the Khorremshehr that was launched," Sarit Zehavi admits.
Nikita Aronov, "Details"