Soumar (missile)

The Soumar (Persian: سومار) is an Iranian long-range cruise missile. The missile was named in the honour of a village called Soumar, whose inhabitants were all killed when Saddam's regime attacked the village with chemical weapons. It is highly likely that the missile is derived from the Russian / Soviet Kh-55, several of which were illegally sold to Iran by Ukraine in 2005.[1] According to Jonathan Ruhe and Blake Fleisher from the Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy (part of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, Washington D.C.), nuclear capable cruise missiles, such as the Soumar, were overlooked in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran's nuclear program and UN Security Council Resolution 2231.[2]

On September 9, 2012, Iranian media quoted Iran's deputy defense minister that a medium-range cruise missile called Meshkat will be revealed soon.[3] He mentioned that the missile can be fired from ground, air and sea and will have a range of 2000 km. However the unveiling did not happen until 2015.

On 2015 a long-range cruise missile was revealed under the name “Soumar”. The design closely resembles the Kh-55 that Iran acquired from Ukraine in 2001.[4] Because of the similarities media guess a range between 2000 and 3000 km for it.[5]

  1. ↑ http://missilethreat.csis.org/missile/soumar/ CSIS Missile Threat - Soumar
  2. ↑ Ruhe, Jonathan; Fleisher, Blake (2016-02-21). "The Overlooked Iranian Missile Threat". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2017-02-02.
  3. ↑ "Iran to unveil Meshkat medium-range cruise missile". PressTV. Tehran. 2012-09-09. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
  4. ↑ "Iran unveils new long-range cruise missile". Haaretz. 2015-03-08. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
  5. ↑ "Iran reveals new Soumar ground-launched cruise missile". Janes Defense. 2015-03-12. Retrieved 2015-03-16.

CSIS Missile Threat - Soumar

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