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The formidable missile arsenal of the Islamic Republic of Iran is largely attributed to the collaboration with North Korea, a nation recognized by the United States as a state-sponsor of terrorism. This connection is highlighted by one of the leading authorities on the strategic partnership between Iran and North Korea.
“The missile recently launched at Diego Garcia is identified as a Musudan. Iran acquired 19 of these missiles from North Korea back in 2005. They have possessed this capability ever since—it’s far from being a ‘secret weapon,'” explained Bruce Bechtol to Fox News Digital. Bechtol, alongside Anthony Celso, co-authored the insightful book “Rogue Allies: The Strategic Partnership Between Iran and North Korea.”
In a report last week, Fox News Digital revealed that Iran had notably intensified its military actions against the United States by launching two intermediate-range ballistic missiles toward Diego Garcia, a location approximately 2,500 miles from Iran.
An image released in December 2025 shows Kim visiting a significant munitions depot. (KCNA via Reuters)
Bechtol further noted, “As the conflict involving the United States and Israel has developed, Iran’s most significant threat has been its ballistic missiles. These have been launched not only at U.S. and Israeli targets but also at other neighboring Islamic nations. It’s crucial to examine this capability and its origins.”
He said, “The short-range ballistic missiles that Iran has launched at key U.S. facilities and at neighboring Arab states include a key system – the “QIAM.” The QIAM was developed and improved with North Korean assistance… North Korea has proliferated a lot to Iran that we are seeing right now in the war.”
Here is the launch of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Shahab-3 medium-range missile during a test at an undisclosed location on Monday, Sept. 28, 2009. (AP Photo)
The joint U.S.-Israeli war against Iran’s regime, the world’s worst state-sponsor of terrorism, according to the U.S. State Department, has entered its fifth week of combat.
Bechtol, who is a professor of political science in the Department of Security Studies at Angelo State University in Texas, noted that, according to the Wisconsin Project, North Korea had constructed a large missile test facility at Emamshahr, a city in the Fars Province in Iran, and a tracking facility at Tabas in South Khorasan province.
He said that North Korea aided Iran with crucial technology “for targets farther away from Iran.”
“The North Koreans proliferated around 150 No Dong systems to Iran in the late 1990s. The Iranians were apparently very happy with the missiles the North Koreans provided them, and, following the earlier precedent of the Scud C factory, contracted with Pyongyang to build a No Dong facility in Iran.”
Bechtol continued, “The Iranians called this “new” missile the Shahab-3. The Shahab-3 is almost an exact copy of the No Dong. Once the Shahab-3 was up and running, the North Koreans moved forward with the Iranians in improving its range and lethality.”
He said, “With assistance from the North Koreans, the Iranians were then able to produce (at the No Dong facility) the Emad and the Ghadr. The Emad has a range of 1,750 kilometers (approx 1,087 miles) and the Ghadr has a range of 1,950 kilometers (approximately 1,212 miles.) The Iranians have used these two systems to target not only Israel, but their Arab neighbors (including U.S. bases located in these countries) throughout the ongoing first stages of this conflict.”
A Ghadr-H missile, center, a Sejjil missile and a portrait of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are on display for the annual Defense Week, marking the 37th anniversary of the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, at Baharestan Sq. in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017 (AP)
Bechtol said that the North Koreans spawned an Iranian missile warhead that weighs a ton and a half to two tons on the powerful Khorramshahr-4. “There is another system capable of hitting Israel that has been even more lethal than any of the systems described thus far. This system is called the ‘Khorramshahr,’ and the fourth version of this system, appropriately called the ‘Khorramshahr-4,’ has been proven to carry a warhead larger than any other in Iran’s missile inventory, armed with what appears to be cluster munitions,” he said.
He described the strategic partnership, noting: “North Korea is the seller and Iran is the buyer. North Korea proliferates weapons systems, technology, parts and components, technicians, engineers and specialists and military capabilities (such as the building of underground facilities) to Iran. Iran pays North Korea with cash and oil. Simple as that.”
Residents and officers from Israel’s Home Front Command inspect a house destroyed by an Iranian missile strike in Zarzir, northern Israel, Friday, March 13, 2026. (Ariel Schalit/AP Photo)
Bechtol said the only way to stop this is through sanctions enforcement against North Korea. “The sanctions that are needed are already on the books. But the USA and our key allies need to robustly enforce them. We need to go after banks, front companies and cyber entities in order to squeeze the money and contain or destroy the supply chain.”
He said, “More emphasis needs to be placed, and more action needs to be taken using the Proliferation Security Initiative — an underused aspect of preventing North Korea’s arms from flowing to rogue nations and terrorist groups. If you cut off the supply chain, you cut off the proliferation.”