Direct proof of use
Iran used ballistic missiles as a long-range strike weapon in the opening day of the 2025 Israel-Iran Conflict. Congressional Research Service reporting says Israel began a major operation against Iran on June 13, 2025, and that Iran retaliated by launching waves of ballistic missiles against Israel.
Contemporaneous Al Jazeera reporting attributed the first waves to Iran and the IRGC, describing launches toward Israel after Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, senior military commanders, and scientists. The same report said Iranian state media described three waves on Friday night, while Israel reported fewer than 100 missiles in that initial barrage.
Sources: CRS Israel-Iran Conflict, Al Jazeera Opening Missile Waves
Timeline
The documented ballistic-missile use began on June 13, 2025, after Israel opened Operation Rising Lion against Iranian nuclear, missile, air-defense, and command targets. During the following days, public statements and research briefings described Iranian ballistic-missile and drone strikes across Israel while Israeli and U.S. missile-defense systems intercepted many incoming weapons.
After the United States struck three Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22, CRS reported that Iran fired ballistic missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar on June 23. CRS characterized that strike as likely largely symbolic and reported no U.S. casualties. The ceasefire was announced for June 24 after additional salvos.
Sources: CRS Israel-Iran Conflict, House of Commons June 2025 Strikes, GOV.UK Foreign Secretary Statement
Operational role
The ballistic-missile salvos were Iran's principal long-range retaliation after Israel's opening strikes. The public record supports class-level attribution to ballistic missiles, but it does not identify a single missile model for the whole campaign, so this page treats the entry as a broad weapon class rather than assigning every launch to a specific Iranian type.
The missile campaign also shaped the conflict's defensive side. JINSA assessed that Iran fired more than 500 ballistic missiles during the June 13-24 war, while FPRI wrote that roughly 500 missiles were fired and that only about 50 to 60 impacts had been identified. Both sources connect the missile salvos to heavy Israeli and U.S. air- and missile-defense activity.
Israeli offensive operations also targeted the missile force itself. FPRI reported that Israeli aircraft struck transporter erector launchers and tunnel entrances, reducing Iran's ability to generate large, organized follow-on salvos. That context separates documented missile use from possession or arsenal size: the sourced claims here concern missiles fired during the conflict, not Iran's full inventory.
Sources: JINSA Shielded by Fire, FPRI Shallow Ramparts, CRS Israel-Iran Conflict
