Iran supplies Iraqi militants with missiles
Iran has given ballistic missiles to proxies in Iraq and is developing production lines to build more there to deter attacks on its interests in the Middle East, and to allow it to strike at regional foes.
The move will exacerbate tension between Tehran and Washington, already heightened by US President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
It will also embarrass France, Germany and the UK – the three European signatories to the deal – as they have been trying to salvage it despite new US sanctions on Tehran.
Iran transferred short-range ballistic missiles to militias in Iraq over the past few months and is helping them to make their own, sources in Iran and Iraq say.
“The logic was to have a backup plan if Iran was attacked,” a senior Iranian official said. “The number of missiles is not high, just a couple of dozen, but it can be increased if necessary.”
Iran previously said its ballistic missile activities were purely for defence.
The Zelzal, Fateh-110 and Zolfaqar missiles have ranges of between 200 and 700 kilometres, putting Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh or the Israeli city of Tel Aviv within striking distance if the weapons were in southern or western Iraq.
The Quds Force, the overseas arm of Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has bases in both those areas. Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani is overseeing the programme, sources said.
Iran has been found to be transferring missiles and technology to Syria and other allies of Tehran, such as the Houthi rebels in Yemen and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
On Friday, The Times reported Iran was building a missile factory in Syria in an area protected by Russia’s air defence shield.
Satellite imagery showed the base under construction in Baniyas, north-west Syria.
Israel, which has struck suspected Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria more than 100 times in recent years, will view the base as a threat. But it may prove a difficult target given the Russian S-400 aerial defence system.
On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that anyone who threatened to wipe Israel out “would put themselves in a similar danger”.
A western source said the missile transfers were designed to send a warning to the US and Israel, especially after air raids on Iranian troops in Syria.
The US has a significant military presence in Iraq.
“It seems Iran has been turning Iraq into its forward missile base,” he said.
A decision was made about 18 months ago to use Iranbacked militias to produce missiles in Iraq, but activity increased in the past few months, including the arrival of missile launchers.
“We have bases like that in many places and Iraq is one of them. If America attacks us, our friends will attack America’s interests and its allies in the region,” said a senior Revolutionary Guard commander.
Factories to develop missiles in Iraq were in Al Zafaraniya, east of Baghdad, and Jurf Al Sakhar, north of Karbala, sources said. There is also a factory in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The areas are controlled by Iran-backed militias, including Kataeb Hezbollah, one of the closest to Tehran. Three sources said Iraqis had been trained in Iran as missile operators.
The Iraqi intelligence source said the Zafaraniya factory produced warheads and ceramics for missile moulds under former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. It was reactivated by local Shiite groups in 2016 with Iranian assistance, a source said.
A US official confirmed that Tehran had transferred missiles to groups in Iraq. Washington has been pushing its allies to adopt a tough anti-Iran policy since it reimposed sanctions this month.
While the European signatories to the nuclear deal have baulked at US pressure, they have grown increasingly impatient over Iran’s ballistic programme.