Fattah runs on solid fuels and can develop a speed of up to 15 Mach.

Iran unveiled on 6 June its first domestically-manufactured hypersonic missile, called Fattah, which the Islamic leadership hailed as a technology capable of penetrating missile defense systems anywhere in the world.

The official news agency IRNA published pictures from an undated ceremony attended by President Ebrahim Raisi and senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the main policy-making force in Iran along with Islamic imams. 

Iran's leadership attends the Fattah unveiling ceremony.

Credit: IRNA

IRNA said the 2-stage missile employed solid propellant in order to achieve high maneuverability and could move at a speed up to 15 Mach or more than 5,100 meters per second. Fattah’s range is 1,400 kilometers. 

Hypersonic missiles move at five times the speed of sound or greater, and therefore are believed to be difficult for defense systems and radars to target. Yet, the Ukrainian army last month shot down a swathe of Russian hypersonic missiles Kinzhal heading to Kiev and other cities with US air-defense systems Patriot.

With the new military achievement, Iran joins the ranks of the United States, Russia, China and North Korea – the only countries believed to be in possession of functional hypersonic weapons.

It is not yet clear what is the launch source for Fattahs, its size or weight, or when the missile was tested.

In May 2023, Iran successfully tried a new, nuclear-capable ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers, amid western protests over the alleged violation of a 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.