Why Iran Keeps Firing This Missile at U.S. Bases | WSJ Equipped

- This is Iran's kheibarshekan ballistic missile, and the regime has been firing it at U.S. bases across the Middle East.

Iran has been using the missile throughout its war with the United States. But U.S. officials say Iran's attacks are growing more and more complex, and that's making the missile even more dangerous for American troops.

The kheibarshekan is a medium-range ballistic missile. Iran claims it can fly 900 miles, meaning it can threaten the entire Middle East and beyond.

Iran considers the missile to be all Iranian, meaning it was designed in Iran, and it's not a modified version of an older Soviet missile.

It's named after the battle of Khaybar in the seventh century when followers of the Prophet Muhammad conquered a Jewish enclave.

There are a few features that make this missile challenging for Iran's adversaries. In some variants, the nose section, which carries the warhead, can maneuver as it crashes toward the earth at high speeds.

The missile also has solid fuel, unlike older missiles, meaning it doesn't need to be fueled up right before launch.

That allows Iran to keep the missiles loaded on trucks and ready to fire quickly before U.S. warplanes can take them out.

Experts also say the missile can carry a payload of more than 1,000 pounds and travel thousands of miles an hour, making direct hits incredibly dangerous.

When the kheibarshekan was introduced in 2022, Iran's military claimed its third-generation design made the missile one-third the weight of previous models

and took about one-sixth the time to launch. Iran has been using the kheibarshekan alongside other missiles and drones, and it has been using a range of speeds, flight paths, and maneuvers to try to confuse defenses.

The U.S. has shot down the majority of those projectiles, but some have gotten through. In July, three American soldiers were killed in an attack on a base in Jordan.