Iran Lifted 2,000-Kilometer Ballistic Missile Cap: Is Europe Exposed?

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it has scrapped its self-imposed 2,000-kilometer limit on ballistic missile range, raising questions over whether Tehran would strike U.S. bases farther into Europe or in the Indian Ocean.

“This limitation has been lifted for us,” IRGC spokesman Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi said in Tehran on Saturday.

He left open whether Iran already has missiles capable of exceeding the cap.

Days earlier, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei warned that Iran would respond to threats from the U.S. or Israel without geographic limits.

For years, the IRGC presented the cap as an assurance to European governments.

What Iran’s Missiles Could Reach

Iranian missiles can already reach the Gulf states and parts of southeastern Europe, including Greece, Bulgaria and Romania.

A longer range could also allow Tehran to position launchers farther east inside Iran while keeping Israel within reach.

In 2019, the U.K., France and Germany said their modeling put the range of a Khorramshahr missile carrying a lighter warhead at about 3,000 kilometers.

In March, the U.K. accused Iran of firing missiles toward Diego Garcia, a joint U.S.-U.K. base in the Indian Ocean about 4,000 kilometers from Iran.

Tehran denied targeting the base and called the incident an Israeli false flag.

Pressure on Countries Hosting U.S. Forces

Iran repeatedly warned Bulgaria over the presence of U.S. military aircraft this year.

After Bulgarian lawmakers approved hosting up to eight U.S. refueling tankers at Bezmer airbase in July, Tehran said Bulgarian officials would bear responsibility for the decision.

The U.S. moved refueling tankers from RAF Mildenhall in England to Germany and elsewhere on Monday in response to a threat from Iran, according to a Wall Street Journal account.

U.S. officials were still assessing the nature of the threat.

The U.K. Ministry of Defense said aircraft move regularly for operational reasons and left the reason for the transfer unconfirmed.

Muhanad Seloom, a security scholar at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera the decision was intended to deter further strikes and press Washington to reach a deal.

He said the long flight to targets deeper in Europe would give NATO members time to detect and intercept incoming missiles.

President Donald Trump said on Monday there was “positive momentum” toward ending hostilities after talks with Qatar’s prime minister in Washington.