Iran claims it has lifted self-imposed restriction on ballistic missile ranges

Tehran may seek to develop missiles capable of reaching more distant targets as fears of renewed war rise. Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it has lifted a self-imposed limit of 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) on the range of its ballistic missiles, suggesting the country may seek to develop missiles capable of reaching more distant targets as fears of renewed all-out war rise.

Meanwhile, airstrikes near Yemen's capital killed at least 27 people, according to a spokesman for Yemen's Houthi-run Health Ministry. The comments by the spokesman of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard came days after the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khomeini, warned that "any kind and level of threat" from the US or Israel would face a response without geographic limits.

Asked at a Tehran news conference about the limit on missile ranges, General Hossein Mohebbi said: "That restriction has been lifted for us."


Iran is not known to have missiles that can go beyond the 2,000-kilometer (1,200-mile) limit. However, US officials have said technology from Iran's space programME can be repurposed to build intercontinental ballistic missiles.

US Central Command said late Saturday it disabled a St. Kitts-flagged ship after it ignored multiple warnings and attempted to leave the region after visiting an Iranian port. US forces have been enforcing a naval blockade on Iran for months in and around the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial strategic waterway for global shipping, including of oil.

On Saturday night, the Iranian military said two tankers in the area had hit mines and caught fire. The US says its blockade had redirected 144 commercial vessels through the end of October. US Central Command also announced Saturday a new task force focusing on hampering Iran's transportation options through its land borders and the Caspian Sea.