Last month, the deputy head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned Europe that if threatened, Tehran would increase the range of their missiles to exceed 2,000 kilometers.

Iran has long said that its missile program is defensive and non-negotiable despite the United States claim that the missile test is in violation of UN Resolution 2231, which endorsed Iran’s nuclear deal and called upon Tehran to cease testing of its missiles designed for delivering nuclear weapons.

The issue has come to a head after remnants of four ballistic missiles fired into Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Houthi militias this year showed signs of being designed and manufactured by Iran.

To understand the context of Iran’s missile program, Al Arabiya English sat down with Dr. Karim Abdianwho has was the Director at CenterScope Technologies, Inc and worked at the Project Office Value Engineering in defense and space, US Department of Defense.

Al Arabiya English: Even if it’s not physically possible yet, how do you see Iranian missiles presenting a risk to Europe and the United States?
Yes! It certainly does present a risk as it can hit any of the US friends and allies within the range of 2,000km. The Iranian missile program poses an immediate threat to the United States’ allies in the Gulf states, to the security of its European allies as well as to US interests in the region and the Greater Middle East.

This threat covers a great number of US allies and many East European countries, which are members of the European Union. In my opinion, the most important issue is the unaccountability and total impunity Iran seems to enjoy. This should be a concern.

Why should Tehran remain unpunished for the use and proliferation of missiles technology, especially when it is exporting them to warring sides? This presents a huge challenge to the international community. So, I think Iranian ballistic missile program must rank high in the US national security priorities.

Al Arabiya English: Can you walk us through the history of missiles manufacturing in Iran? How accurate are they now than their earlier versions? Should the world expect new and advanced versions from Iran or much of the same with the inclusion of Shahab 3, the Ghader 110 and the Imad?
Iran began looking for missile technology and decided to augment missiles into its armed forces and the Revolutionary Guard forces in mid 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war.

With the technical support of China and North Korea, it acquired the first shipment of Korean-assembled, former USSR/Russian designed Scud B, and later Scud-C,through Libya in 1985.

Several hundred IRGC technicians received training on these missiles from Libya and Syria. The Libyan training was short-lived but the six-month long training courses by the Soviet-trained Syrian engineers and technicians actually started the first initial core of Iran missile fork force and the know-how. Then, the North Koreans took over the main task of training for Scud missiles in Korea.

The same year, Iran acquired ship-launched Silk Warm missile from China. All these were imported missiles with operational and maintenance training of Iranian revolutionary guardsmen by North Korean, Russian and Chinese technicians. Iran did not have indigenous manufacturing capacity or capability for the first 10 years. It did not develop its manufacturing capability until 1997. Around this time, Iran inaugurated a missile technology training center with the technical help from Russia, China and Korea for the first time inside Iran. The Russians built the first high-alloy steel, or so called super-alloy processing technology for the manufacturing of missile components that can withstand extreme heat. They began manufacturing single-stage, liquid-fueled missiles that can be launched from fixed locations or from road mobile to allow it a higher degree of operational flexibility.

Source: Alarabiya