Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Saturday it has lifted a self-imposed limit of 2,000 kilometers on the range of its ballistic missiles, suggesting the country may seek to develop missiles capable of reaching more distant targets as fears of renewed all-out war rise. The comments by the spokesman of the Revolutionary Guard came days after the country’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khomeini, warned that “any kind and level of threat” from the US or Israel would face a response without geographic limits. Asked at a Tehran news conference about the limit on missile ranges, Gen. Hossein Mohebbi said: “That restriction has been lifted for us.” He did not say whether Tehran had missiles capable of exceeding the limit, saying only Iran would “demonstrate these capabilities in practice” rather than make statements. Iran is not known to have missiles that can go beyond the 2,000-kilometer limit. However, US officials have said technology from Iran’s space program can be repurposed to build intercontinental ballistic missiles. The Iranian military, meanwhile, said a tanker east of the Strait of Hormuz had hit a mine and caught fire. It did not identify the tanker's flag or destination. It said the vessel had turned off its navigational beacon and was sailing in a “prohibited area.”
