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Iran Says Has Obtained Technology to Build Supersonic Cruise Missile

A picture of the Fattah missile, the first Iranian hypersonic missile. (IRNA)
A picture of the Fattah missile, the first Iranian hypersonic missile. (IRNA)
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Iran Says Has Obtained Technology to Build Supersonic Cruise Missile

A picture of the Fattah missile, the first Iranian hypersonic missile. (IRNA)
A picture of the Fattah missile, the first Iranian hypersonic missile. (IRNA)

Iran said on Wednesday it has the technology to build supersonic cruise missile, Iranian state media reported.

The announcement comes days after reports on the arrival of over 3,000 US sailors and Marines aboard two US warships in the Red Sea to deter Iran from seizing and harassing merchant ships traveling through the Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz.

“The supersonic cruise missile will open a new chapter in Iran’s defense program, as it is extremely difficult to intercept a cruise missile flying at supersonic speeds,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

“The new cruise missile is currently undergoing its tests.”

Despite US and European opposition, Iran has said it will further develop its “defensive” missile program. However, Western military analysts say Iran sometimes exaggerates its missile capabilities.

Iran, which has one of the biggest missile programs in the Middle East, says its weapons are capable of reaching the bases of arch-foes Israel and the United States in the region.

Concerns about Iran’s ballistic missiles contributed to then-US President Donald Trump’s decision in 2018 to ditch Tehran’s 2015 nuclear pact with six major powers and reimpose sanctions on Tehran.

Indirect talks between Tehran and US President Joe Biden’s administration to salvage the nuclear deal have stalled since last September.

In the latest in a series of attacks on ships in the Gulf since 2019, the US Navy said last month it had intervened to prevent Iran from seizing two commercial tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

The Pentagon last month sent additional F-35 and F-16 fighter jets along with a warship to the Middle East in a bid to monitor key waterways in the region following Iran’s seizure and harassment of commercial shipping vessels.

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Putin Says Russia Stands with China against 'Neo-Nazism'

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during a welcoming ceremony before their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, May 8, 2025. (Reuters/Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during a welcoming ceremony before their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, May 8, 2025. (Reuters/Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool)
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Putin Says Russia Stands with China against 'Neo-Nazism'

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during a welcoming ceremony before their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, May 8, 2025. (Reuters/Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during a welcoming ceremony before their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, May 8, 2025. (Reuters/Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool)

Russian President Vladimir Putinthanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for joining celebrations to mark 80 years since the "sacred" victory over Adolf Hitler in World War Two, and said the two countries stood together now against "neo-Nazism". 

Xi's presence at this week's anniversary celebrations provides an important boost for the Kremlin leader, who has portrayed his war in Ukraine as a struggle against modern-day Nazis from the start. 

Ukraine and its allies reject that characterization as a grotesque falsehood, accusing Moscow of conducting an imperial-style invasion. 

"The victory over fascism, achieved at the cost of enormous sacrifices, is of lasting significance," Putin told Xi on Thursday. 

"Together with our Chinese friends, we firmly stand guard over historical truth, protect the memory of the events of the war years, and counteract modern manifestations of neo-Nazism and militarism." 

Xi said the two countries, as world powers and permanent members of the UN Security Council, would work together to counter "unilateralism and bullying" - an implied reference to the United States. 

He said they would "jointly promote the correct view of the history of World War Two, safeguard the authority and status of the United Nations, resolutely defend the rights and interests of China, Russia and the vast majority of developing countries, and work together to promote an equal, orderly, multipolar, and inclusive economic globalization". 

The two leaders spoke after approaching each other along a red carpet from opposite ends of one of the Kremlin's most opulent halls and shaking hands in front of the cameras. Each greeted the other as "dear friend". 

Xi is the most powerful of more than two dozen foreign leaders who are visiting Moscow this week to mark Thursday's 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two. The celebrations are taking place at a key moment in the war with Ukraine, as Moscow and Kyiv come under US pressure to reach a peace deal. 

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday urged countries not to send their militaries to participate in the May 9 parade, saying such participation would go against some countries' declared neutrality in the war. 

Xi, whose country is locked in a tariff war with the United States, is expected to sign numerous agreements to deepen the "no limits" strategic partnership that the two countries signed in 2022, less than three weeks before Putin sent his army into Ukraine. 

China is Russia's biggest trading partner and has thrown Moscow an economic lifeline that has helped it navigate Western sanctions. China buys more Russian oil and gas than any other country.