{"id":312775,"date":"2026-02-27T09:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T09:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/312775\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T09:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T09:35:10","slug":"iran-not-close-to-developing-missiles-to-reach-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/312775\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran not close to developing missiles to reach US"},"content":{"rendered":"

United States\u00a0President Donald Trump\u2019s claim that Iran will soon have a missile that can hit the United States is not backed by US intelligence reports, and appears to be exaggerated, according to three sources familiar with the reports.<\/p>\n

In his State of the Union address<\/a> to Congress on Tuesday, Trump claimed that\u00a0Tehran was \u201cworking on missiles that will soon reach\u201d the United States.<\/p>\n

But there have been no changes, two sources said, to an unclassified 2025 US Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that Iran could take until 2035 to develop a “militarily viable intercontinental ballistic missile” (ICBM) from its existing satellite-lofting space-launch vehicles (SLV).<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump is absolutely right to highlight the grave concern posed by Iran, a country that chants \u2018death to America,\u2019 possessing intercontinental ballistic missiles,” said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly.<\/p>\n

One source said that even if China<\/a> or North Korea – which closely cooperate with Iran – provided technological assistance, Iran would probably take up to eight years at the earliest to produce “something that is actually ICBM level and operational.”<\/p>\n

\"AA child stands holding an Iranian flag next to a missile on display during the 47th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Tehran, Iran February 11, 2026. (credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR\/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS)<\/p>\n

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive intelligence, said they were unaware of any US intelligence assessments that Iran was developing a missile that could soon range the US homeland, but did not rule out the possibility of a new intelligence report they were unaware of.<\/p>\n

Rubio says Iran on ‘pathway’ to weapons that can reach US<\/p>\n

Trump’s claim about Iran’s missile capability came as representatives from the US and Iran negotiate over Tehran’s nuclear program<\/a>, with no signs of a breakthrough that could avert potential US strikes amid a massive military buildup in the region.<\/p>\n

In his address on Tuesday, Trump pointed to Tehran’s support for terrorist groups, its killing of protesters, and the country’s missile and nuclear programs as threats to the region and the United States.<\/p>\n

Trump said that Tehran was beginning to rebuild the nuclear program<\/a> that he claimed had been \u201cobliterated\u201d by US airstrikes last June on three major sites involved with uranium enrichment.<\/p>\n

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> on Wednesday referred to Iran\u2019s ballistic missile program in less definitive terms than Trump, saying that Tehran is “on a pathway to one day being able to develop weapons that could reach the continental US.”<\/p>\n

Iran denies seeking a nuclear arsenal, saying its enrichment of uranium is strictly for civilian uses.<\/p>\n

In an interview with India Today TV released on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denied that Iran was expanding its missile capabilities.<\/p>\n

“We are not developing long-range missiles. We have intentionally limited the range to below 2000 kilometers intentionally,” he said. “We don\u2019t want it to be a global threat. We only have (them) to defend ourselves. Our missiles build deterrence.”<\/p>\n

Weapons program shuttered in 2003, according to IAEA\u00a0<\/p>\n

The US intelligence community and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear watchdog, have said that Iran shuttered a nuclear weapons development program in 2003.<\/p>\n

But according to the IAEA, Tehran has in recent years continued enriching uranium, including to near weapons-grade.<\/p>\n

Trump has threatened to attack Iran if it executes people arrested during nationwide anti-government protests in January or fails to agree a deal on its nuclear program in talks with the US.<\/p>\n

Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities<\/p>\n

Iran has the largest ballistic missile force in the Middle East, with its missiles able to strike Israel, US bases in the region, and parts of Europe.”<\/p>\n

It has also developed so-called space-launch vehicles that have put satellites into orbit and that experts say could be modified into ICBMs that could loft nuclear warheads.<\/p>\n

While SLVs loft satellites, ICBMs release re-entry vehicles that protect warheads from the high temperatures and forces produced by hurtling down through the Earth’s atmosphere.<\/p>\n

But David Albright, a former UN nuclear inspector, said Iran was a long way away from being able to mount atop a missile a nuclear warhead-carrying re-entry vehicle that could survive the extreme heat and forces of plunging through Earth\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n

“Iran can launch a very long-range missile because of its space launch program,” said Albright, the president of the Institute for Science and International Security think tank. “But it needs lots of work to develop an adequate RV (re-entry vehicle).”<\/p>\n

Albright and other experts noted that joint US-Israeli airstrikes last year and in 2024 had badly damaged key facilities where Tehran produces liquid- and solid-fuel ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"United States\u00a0President Donald Trump\u2019s claim that Iran will soon have a missile that can hit the United States…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17467,54,42,87,92,11982,43,40,38,41,39,1032],"class_list":["post-312775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-ballistic-missile","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-iran-nuclear","tag-missiles","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}