The U.S. military has recently massively increased its military strength in the Middle East to support Israel's position in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The aim of this move is to contain Hamas and put pressure on Iran to prevent it from directly intervening in the conflict against Israel. Iran's recent military action on the Tehran-Kom highway has been particularly striking because such missiles are rarely seen outside of public, according to Greece's Pentapostagma** on December 23. For many years, Iran has been developing various types of missiles, including long-range, medium-range and short-range missiles. On the occasion of the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in November, Iran displayed its newly developed "Conqueror-2" hypersonic ballistic missile, which has advanced range and speed indicators, and can carry out saturation attacks against the United States and Israel** in the Persian Gulf and other waters. Hamas is engaged in a fierce battle with Israel, its position is close to Iran, and it has long enjoyed Iranian support and assistance.
Iran is sympathetic to Hamas's anti-Israeli resistance and has repeatedly publicly criticized Israel's military actions since the outbreak of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Iran's elite forces and Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps** have publicly stated that Iranian missiles can strike anywhere in Israel within 10 minutes. Although not currently directly involved in Hamas's attacks on Israel, Iran's strategic ballistic missile sorties amid Israel's escalating military operations in the Gaza Strip are partly an indication of its readiness to intervene militarily. Even if it were not to carry out a direct missile strike on Israel, such a move would distract some of Israel's efforts from attacking Hamas with all its might. Military analysts believe that Iran's large-scale sorties of strategic-grade ballistic missiles are related to the actions of the US military in the Middle East. At present, in the name of containing the Houthis and protecting the safety of navigation in the Red Sea, the United States has set up a joint maritime force composed of 20 countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Denmark, Spain, Italy, and Canada, to carry out escort missions in the Red Sea.
The USS Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group and three guided missile destroyers, including the USS Carney, the USS Mason, and the USS Hardner, are also patrolling the Red Sea. In addition, the USS Ford aircraft carrier strike group is also on standby in the Mediterranean, which is not far from Iran and poses a serious threat to Iran's security. The United States constantly makes accusations against Iran, whether intentional or not. The U.S. blames Iran for attacks on its bases in the Middle East, while Iranian-backed Houthis have threatened to attack Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea, which the U.S. also blames. These signs suggest that the United States is likely to find an excuse to take military action against Iran. In this tense moment, Iran responded by dispatching strategic-class ballistic missiles. If Iran were to launch a missile attack on Israel, or to attack the US-led coalition fleet, the situation in the Middle East would be completely out of control, and the two US aircraft carrier strike groups, as well as their bases in the Middle East, would be directly involved in the conflict. In addition, in addition to rare military operations, Iran held a large-scale exercise in the western region.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Army conducted large-scale exercises at the Najaf Ashraf base in the Schillingburg area, using aviation, drones, artillery, armored units and new equipment, the Tasnim news agency reported on December 11.