Iran claims to develop hypersonic missiles that no air defences 'will be able to thwart'

Iran has claimed that it has developed its own domestic hypersonic missile, which can manoeuvre in such a manner that all air defences would be rendered useless. Commander of the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGCASF), General Amir Ali Hajizadeh claimed that the hypersonic missile can manoeuvre "below and above the earth's atmosphere", as per a report from Iran's state news agency Tasnim. General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said it was a "huge leap" in Iran's missile development and that the missiles can target anti-missile systems. 

"I don't think there will be technologies capable of countering it for decades," said General Amir Ali Hajizadeh. The general is a controversial figure as back in 2020, people working under him shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane minutes after the flight took off from Tehran. All passengers and crew members lost their lives, taking the death toll to 176. The Iranian shot down the plane because they mistook it for a hostile target. General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said he accepted "full responsibility" for the mistake. 

Hajizadeh was placed under sanctions list by US back in 2021

In 2021, US Treasury placed him under a sanctions list and this year, Canada too placed him under a sanctions list. According to a report from Newsweek, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh's recent claims about capabilities of Iran's hypersonic missiles were widely covered in the Russian media. Western nations have alleged that Iran is supplying drones to Russia, which Moscow is using in the Russia-Ukraine war to target Ukraine's critical infrastructure. 

“This hypersonic ballistic missile was developed to counter air defense shields," said Hajizadeh. "It will be able to breach all systems of anti-missile defence," he added, as per a report from Times of Israel. "This missile, which targets enemy anti-missile systems, represents a great generational leap in the field of missiles," he claimed. Hypersonic missiles are more dangerous because they are far more maneuverable than cruise and ballistic missiles, which makes it harder for missile defence systems to reliably track the projectile and target it. Russia, US and China are leading powers in the race to develop hypersonic missiles, although what are the capabilities of each nation is confidential.