Iran Vows ‘Astonishing’ Strikes, Lifts Missile Range Limit as US Targets Land Routes

Iran has abandoned its self-imposed limit on ballistic missile range and is warning that it could deploy new domestically developed weapons capable of “astonishing the entire world.” The announcement came within hours of the U.S. military unveiling a task force designed to disrupt Tehran’s weapons shipments and illicit trade on Nov. 7.

Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebbi, a spokesperson for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), confirmed that Tehran was dropping its previous 2,000-kilometer, or approximately 1,240-mile, restriction on ballistic missile range, The Associated Press reported.

“That restriction has been lifted for us,” Mohebbi said after the task force was announced.

FILE PHOTO: Iranian missiles are displayed at the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Museum in Tehran, Iran, on Nov. 15, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia press Agency) via REUTERS 

 U.S. Central Command has created “Task Force Iron Gate,” an operation focused on stopping the movement of advanced Iranian weapons, dual-use materials and illicit funds across Iran’s land borders and through the Caspian Sea.

“Strengthening CENTCOM’s collaboration with U.S. interagency partners will further constrain Iran’s ability to finance terrorism, rebuild weapons factories and replenish its military,” Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, said in a statement posted on X.

Behnam Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the United States could pursue “targeted strikes” against those facilitating Iran’s activities while applying “political pressure on bordering states, as well as market and sanctions pressure against institutions underwriting Iran’s illicit trade.”

“It speaks volumes, of course, that this effort is being stood up within CENTCOM headquarters,” Taleblu told News Outlet.  

Iran’s IRGC quickly dismissed the initiative as “wordplay.” Tehran had already prepared for additional pressure and coordinated with neighboring countries to withstand it, Fars News Agency reported.

Mohebbi also said Iran was developing new weapons intended to deliver severe damage in any future confrontation with the United States and Israel.

An Iranian missile is launched during a military exercise at an undisclosed location in Iran on Aug. 20, 2025. (Iranian Army/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS)

“There are surprises that will be unveiled and deployed on the battlefield if a third wave of confrontation with the enemy erupts. These surprises will astonish the entire world,” Mohebbi said at a news conference in Tehran on Saturday, according to Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, or IRNA.

“If they once again miscalculate, or if the Zionists, pursuing their own interests, push the criminal United States into another miscalculation, they should know that Iran’s next blows will be even harder and leave them crippled for years to come,” he added.

Iran’s former 2,000-kilometer range limit already placed the entire Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, most of Egypt, and portions of Greece and the Balkans within reach.

In March, Iran unsuccessfully attempted to strike the joint U.S.-British military base at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, located roughly 2,500 miles from Iran.

Mohebbi further claimed that Iran was preparing to reveal new underground missile complexes as Tehran works to protect weapons production from potential future attacks.

SEE ALSO: Frizz Ease Tycoon John Frieda’s £300m Property Portfolio

Iranian officials call the facilities “missile cities.” According to IRNA, they are intended to enable the IRGC to continue manufacturing weapons during wartime.

Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago, is home to a major U.S. military base in the central Indian Ocean leased from the U.K. in 1966. (reuters)

The IRGC spokesman said Iran’s Aerospace Force continued producing missiles and drones during the recent fighting, relying on domestic expertise rather than imported weapons or “reverse engineering of weapons captured from the enemy.”

Mohebbi described the country’s expanding capacity to manufacture weapons independently as a “very big achievement.”

Taleblu, however, pointed to the strategic importance of the Caspian Sea basin, saying the world’s largest lake has become “a two-way sanctions-busting hub for both Iran and Russia.”

“Iranian officials always claim self-sufficiency in their military industries,” he said.

“But with domestic missile production significantly constrained by the 40-Day War, the regime will depend on imports to rebuild, particularly at scale and at a faster pace.”

“That is why efforts to restrict both land and maritime trade into and out of Iran represent a one-two punch for the regime.”

The warnings come as Washington increases pressure on Iran’s regional trade network, including crossings along its border with Iraq. Baghdad has reportedly resisted U.S. demands for broader and more comprehensive restrictions.

The Institute for the Study of War said Iraq has closed just one border crossing with Iran, despite reports that the United States is urging Baghdad to shut down most of the crossings between the two nations.

Soldiers from the U.S.-led coalition are seen during the handover of K1 Air Base to the Iraqi Army in Kirkuk, Iraq, on March 29, 2020. (Associated Press)

On Sunday, the U.S. Treasury urged Iraq to keep only two border crossings with Iran open as part of Washington’s campaign to increase economic pressure on Tehran, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said, according to Reuters.

The Iraqi government closed the al-Shayeb crossing in southeastern Iraq on Oct. 21 while it reviewed security procedures and installed equipment intended to stop prohibited materials from being smuggled across the border.

Iraqi political sources told Agence France-Presse that Washington had pushed Baghdad to close most crossings with Iran, seeking to limit trade and financial exchanges that could help Tehran withstand U.S. sanctions, ISW reported.

ISW also reported that Iranian Ambassador to Iraq Mohammad Kazem al-Sadegh was pressuring tribal leaders in Maysan province to urge Iraqi officials and leaders of the Shiite Coordination Framework to reopen al-Shayeb.

Al-Sadegh is reportedly affiliated with the IRGC’s Quds Force, the unit responsible for the organization’s foreign operations.

The institute said Baghdad’s restrained response likely reflects an attempt to balance its ties with Washington against the influence of Iranian-backed political factions.