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

Iran has abandoned its self-imposed limit on ballistic missile range and warned that it is preparing new, domestically developed weapons that will “astonish the entire world.” The announcement came just hours after the U.S. military unveiled a new task force designed to disrupt Tehran’s weapons shipments and illicit trade on Nov. 7.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) spokesperson Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebbi said Iran was ending its previous restriction limiting ballistic missiles to 2,000 kilometers, or about 1,240 miles, according to The Associated Press.

“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, November 15, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia press Agency) via REUTERS 

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

“Strengthening CENTCOM’s collaboration with US Interagency partners will further constrain Iran’s ability to finance terrorism, rebuild weapons factories, and replenish their 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 (FDD), said the United States could pursue “targeted strikes” against facilitators 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 Media.  

Iran’s IRGC quickly rejected the initiative as “wordplay.” Tehran has already prepared for additional pressure and coordinated with neighboring countries, the group said, according to the Fars News Agency.

Mohebbi also claimed Iran was developing new weapons capable of inflicting severe damage in any future confrontation with the United States and Israel.

An Iranian missile is launched during a military exercise in an undisclosed location in Iran, August 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 (IRNA).

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

Even under the former 2,000-kilometer range limit, Iran’s ballistic missiles could reach the entire Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, most of Egypt and parts of Greece and the Balkans.

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

Mohebbi further said Iran was preparing to reveal new underground missile facilities as Tehran works to protect its weapons production from potential future attacks.

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

Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago and site of a major United States military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean leased from the U.K. in 1966. (reuters)

The IRGC spokesperson 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 called Iran’s increasing independence in weapons manufacturing a “very big achievement.”

Taleblu, however, highlighted the strategic importance of the Caspian Sea basin, saying the world’s largest lake has “turned into 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 due to the 40-Day War, the regime will be reliant on imports to build back, and especially at scale and at a faster rate.

“This is why efforts to constrain both land and sea trade in and out of Iran are a one-two punch for the regime.”

The statements came as Washington stepped up pressure on Iran’s regional trade network, including border crossings with Iraq. Baghdad has reportedly resisted U.S. calls for wider restrictions along the frontier.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Iraq had closed just one border crossing with Iran, despite reports that the United States was urging Baghdad to shut most crossings between the two countries.

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

On Sunday, the U.S. Treasury urged Iraq to close all but two border crossings with Iran as part of Washington’s broader 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 for a security review and to install equipment intended to block the smuggling of prohibited materials.

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

ISW also reported that Iran’s 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, which directs the organization’s overseas operations.

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