What are Iran’s military capabilities – and how much of a threat is it?
Israel’s attack on Iran targeted the “heart” of the country’s nuclear programme – including its facilities, ballistic missile factories, and top military chiefs.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have said that Operation Rising Lion was “pre-emptive”. It was undertaken to stop Iran producing a nuclear weapon “in a very short time”, according to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
Latest: Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear sites – and Iran responds
The attack came despite warnings from US President Donald Trump – who said intervention could “blow” US nuclear deal talks with Iran, which is believed to be rapidly advancing its nuclear programme.
Iran’s leader vowed to deliver “heavy blows” in response to the attack, and overnight on Friday launched a barrage of missiles at Israel, injuring dozens of people.
But what are Iran’s military capabilities – and to what extent do they pose a significant threat?
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IDF destroys Iranian ballistic missiles
The IRGC
The IRGC – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – was set up to provide extra protection to the Islamic regime in 1979, and is the dominant branch of the Iranian Armed Forces.
The Revolutionary Guard – which had several senior leaders killed in Israel’s strikes – oversees Iran’s ballistic missile programme.
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Senior Iranian commanders ‘killed’
The IRGC, which answers to Iran’s supreme leader, has an estimated 125,000-strong military with army, navy and air units. Some analysts believe the figure is far higher.
It also commands the Basij religious militia, a volunteer paramilitary force loyal to the establishment and which is often used to crack down on anti-government protests.
Analysts say Basij volunteers may number in the millions.
The Quds Force is the IRGC’s foreign espionage and paramilitary arm that heavily influences its allied militia across the Middle East.
The IRGC, which is classified as a terrorist group by the US, wants to shape the Middle East in favour of Tehran.
In 1982, it founded Lebanon’s Hezbollah to export Iran’s Islamic Revolution and fight Israeli forces which invaded Lebanon that same year.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been in operation for more than four decades. File pic: AP
What are the IRGC’s military capabilities?
The IRGC has ground, air and naval capabilities – and oversees Iran’s ballistic missile programme, regarded by experts as the largest in the Middle East.
It has used the missiles to hit militants in Syria and northern Iraq.
The US, European nations and Saudi Arabia blamed Iran for a 2019 missile and drone attack which crippled the world’s biggest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia.
Iran denied any involvement in the assault.
The IRGC has its own intelligence wing and has extensive conventional combat hardware, which it showcased with its involvement in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
Experts believe its stock of cruise and ballistic missiles has the ability and range to hit any target within the Middle East region.
According to the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Iran is armed with the largest number of ballistic missiles in the region.
The IRGC’s naval forces carry out a missile launch as part of a military drill in 2023. File pic: Reuters
What do we know about the Iranian missile range?
The semi-official Iranian news outlet ISNA in April last year published details of missiles it said could reach Israel.
These included the Sejil, which is capable of flying at more than 10,500mph and has a range of 1,550 miles.
Another one, the Kheibar, has a range of 1,240 miles – while the Haj Qasem can reach targets 870 miles away.
Iran says its ballistic missiles are an important deterrent and retaliatory force against the US, Israel and other potential regional targets. It denies seeking nuclear weapons.
Iran had previously said it had built an advanced homemade drone named Mohajer-10 with an operational range of 1,240 miles.
It can fly for up to 24 hours with a payload of up to 300kg (660lbs), the Iranians claimed.
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IDF destroys Iranian ballistic missiles
In the summer of 2023, Iran presented what officials described as its first domestically made hypersonic ballistic missile, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Hypersonic missiles can fly at least five times faster than the speed of sound and can take a complex trajectory, making them difficult to intercept.
The Arms Control Association, a Washington-based non-governmental organisation, says Iran’s missile programme is largely based on North Korean and Russian designs and has also received Chinese assistance.
It says Iran’s short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles include Shahab-1, with an estimated range of 190 miles.
Iran has cruise missiles such as Kh-55, an air-launched nuclear-capable weapon with a range of up to 1,860 miles.
An advanced anti-ship missile, the Khalid Farzh, with an approximate range of 186 miles, is capable of carrying a 1.1-tonne warhead.
An IRGC ground forces military drill in East Azerbaijan province, Iran, in October 2022. Pic: Reuters
How does Iran use other military groups?
Iran has been backing groups which have been attacking Israel, US interests, and Red Sea shipping.
This is in addition to its own rounds of retaliation with Israel, following post-October 7 2023 tensions in the region.
Built up over decades of Iranian support, the groups describe themselves as the “Axis of Resistance” to Israel and US influence in the Middle East.
The axis includes the Palestinian group, Hamas – but also the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, and the Houthi movement in Yemen, alongside various armed groups in Iraq and Syria.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah was set up by the IRGC in 1982 with the aim of fighting Israeli forces which had invaded Lebanon that year.
The heavily armed group, also an influential political player, is widely regarded as more powerful than the Lebanese state.
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The Houthi movement established control over large parts of Yemen during a civil war, which began in 2014 when it overthrew the government, which was backed by Saudi Arabia – Iran’s main rival for regional influence.
The Houthis have long had friendly ties to Iran.
The movement announced at the end of October 2023 that it had entered the Gaza conflict by firing drones and missiles towards Israel – and later attacked shipping in the southern Red Sea.
The US believes the IRGC was helping to plan and carry out the Houthi missile and drone attacks, but Iran denies any involvement.
The Houthis deny being an Iranian proxy.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is shown an Iranian drone in Tehran in 2023. Pic: Reuters
What are Iran’s nuclear capabilities?
The UN nuclear watchdog’s board of governors has found that Iran has not been complying with its nuclear obligations for the first time in 20 years – after it vowed to open a new uranium enrichment facility “in a secure location”.
The country’s supreme leader made clear in June 2023 how Western nations cannot prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons.
At the time, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said a deal with the West was possible, but only if its nuclear infrastructure remained intact.
Iran has always denied having any intention to build a nuclear weapon.
Thousands of troops are taking part in a joint military exercise between Russia and Belarus, as tensions with the EU run high following a Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace earlier this week.
The Zapad joint military exercise which began on Friday will involve drills in both Russia and Belarus as well as in the Baltic and Barents seas, the Russian defence ministry said.
Belarusian defence officials initially said about 13,000 troops would participate in the drill, but in May, its defence ministry said that would be cut nearly in half.
It comes just two days after Poland, with support from its NATO allies, shot down Russian drones over its airspace.
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Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Friday morning hit back at a suggestion by US President Donald Trump on Thursday that the incursion may have been a “mistake”.
He said in a post on X: “We would also wish that the drone attack on Poland was a mistake. But it wasn’t. And we know it.”
Russia said its forces had been attacking Ukraine at the time of the incursions and that it had not intended to hit any targets in Poland.
Friday also saw Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper travelling to Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv on the same day the UK announced fresh sanctions against Moscow.
Prince Harry was also in Kyiv for a surprise visit to help with the recovery of military personnel seriously injured in the three-year war with Russia.
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Prince Harry arrives in Kyiv
Ms Cooper, who was appointed foreign secretary last week, posted about her visit on X saying: “The UK’s support for Ukraine is steadfast. I am pleased to be in Kyiv on my first visit as Foreign Secretary.”
The UK’s new sanctions include bans on 70 vessels that Britain says are part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” that transports Russian oil in defiance of sanctions already in place.
Yvette Cooper with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. Pic: Valentyn Ogirenko/PA
Some 30 individuals and companies – including Chinese and Turkey-based firms – have also been sanctioned for their part in supplying Russia with electronics, chemicals, explosives and other weapons components.
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Meanwhile on the frontline, Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s oil-loading Primorsk port overnight, an SBU official said.
The attack caused fires and suspended oil-loading operations, the official added.
Russian defence systems also intercepted and destroyed 221 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Prince Harry has made a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, a spokesperson for the royal has said.
Harry, who served 10 years in the British Army, visited the city at the invitation of the Ukrainian government.
The Duke of Sussex travelled to the capital to help with the recovery of military personnel seriously injured in the three-year war with Russia.
Pic: Railway of Ukraine Ukrzaliznytsia/AP
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will also be travelling to Kyiv on Friday in what will be her first foreign trip since being appointed to the job last week.
Her visit coincides with the UK launching a new package of Russia-related sanctions targeting ships carrying Russian oil as well as companies and individuals supplying electronics, chemicals and explosives used to make Russian weapons.
It comes as Russia and Belarus began a major joint military exercise on on NATO’s doorstep on Friday, just two days after Poland, with support from its NATO allies, shot down suspected Russian drones over its airspace.
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Drones shot down in Poland
The Zapad-2025 exercise – a show of force by Russia and its close ally – will involve drills in both countries and in the Baltic and Barents seas, the Russian defence ministry said.
Meanwhile on the frontline, Russian defence systems intercepted and destroyed 221 Ukrainian drones overnight,
including nine over the Moscow region, the ministry said on Friday.
The duke told the Guardian while on an overnight train to Kyiv: “We cannot stop the war but what we can do is do everything we can to help the recovery process.
“We can continue to humanise the people involved in this war and what they are going through.
“We have to keep it in the forefront of people’s minds. I hope this trip will help to bring it home to people because it’s easy to become desensitised to what has been going on.”
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Harry, who served two tours in Afghanistan, previously travelled to Ukraine in April, when he visited war victims as part of his work with wounded veterans.
The prince visited the Superhumans Center, an orthopaedic clinic in Lviv that treats and rehabilitates wounded military personnel and civilians.
Earlier this week, Harry said the King is “great” after he reunited with him at Clarence House for a private tea.
It was their first meeting in 19 months and lasted just 54 minutes.
The last time the father and son saw each other was in February 2024 when the prince flew to the UK after the monarch announced his cancer diagnosis.
Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have lived in California since they quit roles as senior working royals in March 2020.
Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro has been sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for attempting a coup to stay in power after his 2022 election defeat.
The far-right politician, who ruled Brazil between 2019 and 2022, is currently under house arrest in the capital, Brasilia.
A panel of five Supreme Court justices handed down the sentence several hours after they found the 70-year-old guilty on five counts.
The counts were trying to stage a coup, being part of an armed criminal organisation, attempting violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, being implicated in violence, and posing a serious threat to the state’s assets and listed heritage.
Bolsonaro‘s lawyers have said they will appeal the verdict.
Pic: AP
The ruling will deepen political divisions in Brazil and is also likely to prompt a backlash from the United States government – with Donald Trump already sharing his thoughts on the vote.
President Trump, an ally of Bolsonaro, has said he was surprised and “very unhappy” with the decision.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, he said he always found Bolsonaro “outstanding” and said the conviction is “very bad for Brazil”.
Mr Trump previously called the case a “witch hunt”, slapped Brazil with tariff hikes, and revoked US visas for most members of Brazil’s high court.
Bolsonaro is the first former Brazilian president to be convicted of attempting a coup.
He has not attended the court proceedings, and on Thursday, he was seen at the garage of his property, but did not talk to the media.
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Justice Carmen Lucia. Pic: AP
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has been overseeing the case, said on Tuesday that Bolsonaro was the leader of a coup plot and of a criminal organisation, and voted in favour of convicting him. Justices Flavio Dino, Carmen Lucia, and Cristiano Zanin sided with Justice Moraes in the trial.
On Wednesday, another justice, Luiz Fux, disagreed and voted to acquit the ex-president of all charges.
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Justice Lucia said she was convinced by the evidence the attorney general’s office put forward against Bolsonaro, saying: “He is the instigator, the leader of an organisation that orchestrated every possible move to maintain or seize power.”
Bolsonaro had been previously banned from running for office until 2030 in a different case.
He is expected to choose an heir who is likely to challenge President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva next year.
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