Iran has lifted the self-imposed limit on the range of its ballistic missiles, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Saturday, opening the way to weapons that could reach far beyond the Middle East as fears grow of a renewed all-out war with the United States.
Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi, the Guard’s spokesman, said the 2,000-kilometre (1,200-mile) ceiling that has constrained Iran’s missile programme for almost a decade no longer applies. “The restriction has been lifted for us,” he said, according to Iran’s ISNA news agency. “However, we must demonstrate these capabilities in practice, and we should not merely make statements beforehand. Our duty is to demonstrate our capabilities on the battlefield.”
Mohebbi was speaking on the sidelines of a press conference in Tehran marking the IRGC’s Aerospace Week. He said Iran was prepared to respond to threats “without geographical limitations” and would rely on asymmetric warfare to catch its adversaries off guard. “Our warfare is asymmetric, and we can strike the enemy at a location it would never anticipate, thereby bringing it to a standstill,” he said. “Rest assured that we possess such capabilities.”
The 2,000km cap was a political decision imposed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in 2017, rather than a technical limit. It was enough for Iran’s missiles to reach Israel and every American base in the Gulf, but not Europe. Removing it raises the prospect of Tehran developing missiles able to strike targets in south-eastern Europe and beyond — a step Washington and its European allies have long warned against.
Saturday’s announcement is the clearest public confirmation yet that the cap is gone, although Iranian officials had previously suggested it had already been dropped. Iran has not publicly demonstrated a missile flying beyond 2,000km, so the expanded capability Mohebbi described remains unproven.
The statement came a day after President Donald Trump said American forces had carried out fresh, limited strikes on Iran, destroying an air defence system on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz shortly after it was built. Trump described the operation as “minor”. The US military had also reported defensive strikes on Monday, and explosions were reported on Qeshm and Hengam islands and near the mainland port of Bandar Abbas.
Mohebbi said Iranian forces had carried out firing exercises and that most of the explosions heard on Friday night were air defence fire. He also claimed an American aircraft was hit during the firing, but gave no further details, and the claim has not been independently verified.
Sources: Associated Press, “Iran says it has lifted its self-imposed limit on missile ranges, and other Mideast news” (https://www.guardonline.com/news/national/iran-says-it-has-lifted-its-self-imposed-limit-on-missile-ranges-and-other-mideast-news/article_6f766e5c-334c-5c5a-8a6a-cd74db6a8cdd.html); Tasnim News Agency, “Restrictions on Range of Iranian Missiles Lifted: IRGC Spokesman” (https://tasnimnews.ir/en/news/2026/11/07/3742388/restrictions-on-range-of-iranian-missiles-lifted-irgc-spokesman); DailyGraph News, “Beyond 2000 km: Iran removes cap on ballistic missile range, vows to demonstrate capabilities on battlefield” (https://edailygraph.com/beyond-2000-km-iran-removes-cap-on-ballistic-missile-range-vows-to-demonstrate-capabilities-on-battlefield/).
