The first five shipments of these vaunted missile systems just arrived in Iran, as did the Russian specialists needed to operate them. Now, the world waits to see when Iran will launch a retaliatory strike on Israel as was promised for the latter's suspected assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, whose job duties included negotiating peace in Gaza.
The Iskander missile system has a range of around 500 kilometers (around 311 miles). The Murmansk-BN electronic warfare system can cripple enemy communications at a distance of up to 5,000 km (around 3,107 miles).
While the Iskander by itself is hardly a threat to Israel, which is located around 1,000 km (around 621 miles) away from Iran, it can easily become a threat to Israel when equipped with R-500 cruise missiles, which have a range of up to 1,500 km (around 932 miles).
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Russia to help Iran punish Israel
With tensions at a fever pitch in the Middle East, and Iran on the verge of attacking Israel at any moment, Russian National Security Council chairman Sergei Shoigu recently paid a visit to Iran.
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised this would happen, warning previously that Russia will equip countries like Iran that are hostile to the United States and its allies, i.e., Israel, with advanced, long-range weapons capable of keeping Israel in check.
Hamas has since named a new leader, Yahya Sinwar, as Haniyeh's replacement. Sinwar has been leading Hamas inside Gaza since 2017.
Israel claims that Sinwar is the person responsible for launching the October 7 attack into southern Israel. The Jewish state also says it believes that Sinwar has been hiding in the network of tunnels that is said to be located underneath Gaza.
"The appointment of arch-terrorist Yahya Sinwar as the new leader of Hamas, replacing Ismail Haniyeh, is yet another compelling reason to swiftly eliminate him and wipe this vile organization off the face of the earth," wrote Israel Katz, Israel's foreign minister, on X, calling for Sinwar to be assassinated.
As of this writing, Israel has still neither confirmed nor denied assassinating Haniyeh.
The United States military, meanwhile, is sending over troops by the boatload to help defend Israel in the event that Iran follows through on launching a major responsive attack.
"Hamas is making a strong statement by choosing Sinwar (head of the military wing) to lead the organization," one commenter at RT wrote about what he feels is the "stupidity" of whoever assassinated Haniyeh.
"Can anyone tell me what the difference is between terrorism and war?" asked another. "Exactly. Then how I will know if, as AIPAC is blubbering, Israel underwent a terrorist attack or was it something different?
"AIPAC is asking: Does Israel have the right to defend itself from terrorism? Perhaps it should be asking: Does Israel have the right to encroach on the boundaries of another region that's not part of itself?"
Another added to the conversation that the choice of replacing Haniyeh with Sinwar is telling in that Sinwar is "one of the resistance's most seasoned officials who had closely worked with Ismail Haniyeh and others ever since the first intifada."
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