Profile
- Type
- Ballistic missile
- Conflict side
- Iran
- Origin
- Global
- Service note
- 1940s-present
Artillery
Ballistic missile
Ballistic missiles are rocket-propelled weapons that follow a largely ballistic flight path after a short powered boost phase. In the Israel-Iran Conflict, Iranian ballistic-missile salvos formed the main long-range strike arm against Israel, with open-source reporting describing waves of launches from Iranian territory while often leaving the exact missile models unidentified.
- Conflict side
- Iran
- Built by
- Multiple manufacturers
- Built in
- Multiple countries
Service History
- In service
- Used across multiple national missile inventories in short-, medium-, intermediate-, and intercontinental-range forms.
- Used by
- Iranian Armed Forces
- Wars
- Israel-Iran Conflict
Production History
- Designer
- Multiple design bureaus
- Designed
- 1940s
- Built by
- Multiple manufacturers
- Built in
- Multiple countries
- Unit cost
- Varies widely by missile class and national program
- Produced
- 1940s-present
- Number built
- Not publicly disclosed
- Variants
- Short-range ballistic missile, Medium-range ballistic missile, Intermediate-range ballistic missile, Intercontinental ballistic missile
Specifications
- Flight profile
- Powered during boost, then unpowered through a high-arcing ballistic trajectory before terminal reentry.
- Range
- Typically grouped as SRBM, MRBM, IRBM, or ICBM depending on reach.
- Launch platform
- Fixed silos, mobile launchers, ships, submarines, and aircraft are all used by different missile families.
- Guidance
- Usually inertial with possible terminal updates or maneuvering features in some modern designs.
- Warhead
- Conventional, chemical, biological, or nuclear payloads are all possible depending on the missile family.
Conflict Usage
- Israel-Iran Conflict
- Side: IranRole: Retaliatory long-range strike missile
Used by Iran in the Israel-Iran Conflict for long-range missile salvos against Israeli targets in June 2025; open-source reporting described the attacks as ballistic-missile launches from Iranian territory and did not identify a single missile model for the whole salvo.
Ballistic missile Images
Related Weapon Systems
Sources
Missile Threat homePublisher: CSIS Missile Defense Project | Note: Supports general ballistic-missile background and the broader missile-threat context for the class entry. | Accessed: 2026-06-21Ballistic missilePublisher: Britannica | Note: Supports the basic definition, flight profile, launch-platform diversity, and broad payload/range classification of ballistic missiles. | Accessed: 2026-06-21Minuteman3launch.jpgPublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Image provenance and licensing context for the primary ballistic-missile launch image used on the entry. | Accessed: 2026-06-21Intercontinental_ballistic_missile_SS-18_Mod_5_-_two_stages.jpgPublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Image provenance and licensing context for the supporting missile-structure image used in the gallery. | Accessed: 2026-06-21Atlas_missile_test_launch.jpgPublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Image provenance and licensing context for the supporting test-launch image used in the gallery. | Accessed: 2026-06-21Iran launches waves of missiles at Israel in response to attacksPublisher: Al Jazeera | Note: Israel-Iran Conflict: used by Iran in June 2025 ballistic-missile waves launched at Israel after Israeli strikes on Iran. | Accessed: 2026-06-21Iran: Impacts of June 2025 Israel and US strikesPublisher: UK House of Commons Library | Note: Israel-Iran Conflict: ballistic missiles were fired by Iran against Israel during the June 2025 fighting, and most were intercepted. | Accessed: 2026-06-21