In fact, the range on its numerous short range (SRBM) and medium range (MRBM) missiles is only 300 to 2,000 kilometers. That is, the maximum extent of Iran’s military attack perimeter is not even the Strait of Gibraltar, which is 5,000 kilometers from Tehran!
So when we say zero military threat to the US homeland we mean exactly that. The only thing Iran can really threaten is a limited number of US bases, military personnel and naval ships that Washington has foolishly put in harm’s way in the middle east, Persian Gulf, Red Sea and Mediterranean.
Yet and yet. All of those military assets are about the operations of Empire, not the military security of the American homeland situated between the great ocean moats.
https://original.antiwar.com/David_Stockman/2025/06/15/america-first-we-hardly-knew-ye
The Donald called Fed Chairman Powell a “numbskull” last week and deservedly so. But to paraphrase an old adage, when the cap fits said numbskulls tend to wear it themselves.
Surely, that’s where we are this morning upon Israel’s reprehensible attack on Iran’s civilian nuclear facilities and decapitation of its military and scientific leadership. Self-evidently, the attack was well known to Trump and tacitly greenlighted by him during the course of several conversations this past week with Netanyahu himself.
And that’s no armchair surmise. The Donald has been yapping like a banshee this morning telling one and all reporters that the attack fits like hand-in-glove to his “art of the deal” maneuvers. It may look like more war but its actually just part of the Donald’s brilliant pursuit of peace. Says he.
Thus, he told CNN’s Dana Bash that he had given Iran 60 days to capitulate to his demands regarding a new nuke treaty, and yesterday was day 61. The implication, of course, is that he gave them fair warning and therefore Tehran needed a 2X4 between the eyes for failing to satisfy the Great Dealmaker on the Potomac on a timely basis.
Likewise, ABC’s Trump-hating Jonathan Karl also got a heads up to the effect that –
I just spoke to President Trump and asked him about the Israeli attack on Iran. Here’s what he told me: “I think it’s been excellent. We gave them a chance and they didn’t take it. They got hit hard, very hard. They got hit about as hard as you’re going to get hit. And there’s more to come. a lot more.”
Moreover, just in case the message through these ordinarily hostile reporters wasn’t clear, the Donald let loose on social media a fusillade of bombast, bravado and sheer juvenile depravity that has never before been issued from the Oval Office in such raw and unfiltered form.
No, MAGA fanboys, these aren’t the art-of-the-deal words of even a blustering real estate developer from the backstreets of Queens. Indeed, we can’t imagine even in the Queens that you would expect an amicable cancellation of your plumber’s bill after you put a contract out on his brother-in-law.
And yet and yet. What in the hell is the Donald doing bringing America to the brink of yet another Forever War against a country that is in no way, shape or form a threat to the Homeland Security of the United States?
Indeed, the whole Iranian imbroglio is a direct repudiation of the entire America First proposition. Iran’s capacity to inflict military harm on the US homeland amounts to zero, nichts, nada, nugatory, nein and nyet. So why is POTUS giving bellicosity a new name by threatening that American weapons will be used to wipe Iran from the face of the earth?
For want of doubt, here are the facts about Iran’s nonexistent military threat to the American homeland. First, it has no blue water Navy such as aircraft carriers or world-scale cruisers, destroyers and attack submarines.
Instead, its Navy operates almost exclusively in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea and consists of a mix of small, coastal patrol boats including corvettes, frigates and mini submarines, totaling at most 100,000 tons of displacement. That figure is just 2% of the 4.5 million tons of Blue Water capacity embedded in the US Navy’s 11 aircraft carriers, 70 destroyers, 22 cruisers and 66 attack submarines, among others.
Secondly, Iran also has no long range bombers at all with a range of more than 2,800 kilometers. Even then its most advanced longer-range aircraft, the Su-24MK, is for the most part not operational, owing to lack of spare parts and maintenance. Only 20 of possibly 40 of these longer range aircraft are currently believed to be air worthy combatants.
Finally, while it does have upwards of 1,400 to 2,700 short and medium range missiles, none of these have the range to come anywhere near the continental US. That’s because the distance between Tehran and Washington DC, Chicago and Denver is 10,050, 10,300 and 11,100 kilometers, respectively, but Iran posses zero intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of spanning that distance.
In fact, the range on its numerous short range (SRBM) and medium range (MRBM) missiles is only 300 to 2,000 kilometers. That is, the maximum extent of Iran’s military attack perimeter is not even the Strait of Gibraltar, which is 5,000 kilometers from Tehran!
Iran’s Inventory Of Short And Medium Range Ballistic Missiles
| Missile Type | Class | Range (km) | Estimated Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shahab-1 | SRBM | ~300 | ~200–300 | Older missile, based on Scud-B, used for regional tactical strikes. |
| Fateh-110 | SRBM | ~300 | ~500–1,000 | Precision-guided, widely deployed, backbone of SRBM arsenal. |
| Fateh-313 | SRBM | ~500 | ~200–400 | Improved Fateh variant with enhanced accuracy. |
| Raad-500 | SRBM | ~500 | ~100–200 | Solid-fuel, precision-guided, newer addition to arsenal. |
| Quds-1 | SRBM | ~600 | ~50–100 | Used by proxies, less common in Iran’s direct arsenal. |
| Ya-Ali | SRBM | ~700 | ~50–100 | Cruise missile variant, less frequently cited. |
| Jahad | SRBM | ~1,000 | ~50–100 | Newly unveiled in 2024, limited data on deployment. |
| Shahab-3 | MRBM | ~2,000 | ~100–200 | Liquid-fuel, capable of reaching Israel and U.S. bases. |
| Emad | MRBM | ~1,700 | ~50–100 | Precision-guided, improved Shahab-3 variant. |
| Fattah-1 | MRBM | ~1,400 | ~20–50 | Hypersonic, designed to evade missile defenses. |
| Kheibar-Shekan | MRBM | ~1,450 | ~50–100 | Solid-fuel, precision-guided, newer model. |
| Khorramshahr | MRBM | ~2,000 | ~20–50 | Liquid-fuel, high payload capacity, reaches Israel. |
| New Solid-Fuel Missile(2025) | MRBM | ~1,200 | Unknown | Unveiled May 2025, limited data on production. |
| Total | SRBM/MRBM | 300–2,000 | 1,390–2,700 | Excludes unknown quantity for New Solid-Fuel (2025) missile. |
Sources: Estimates are derived from U.S. Central Command (2023 testimony by Gen. Kenneth McKenzie), Iran Watch, CSIS reports, and posts on X. Quantities are approximate due to Iran’s secretive program.
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