IRAN'S ARSENAL - A SERIES OF POSTS
IRAN'S ARSENAL - A SERIES OF POSTS
SHAHAB-1 | Short-Range Ballistic Missile
شهاب ۱ | “Meteor-1"
A direct reverse-engineered copy of the Soviet R-17 Elbrus (NATO designation: Scud-B). Iran acquired the original airframes from Libya and Syria during the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) before establishing domestic production.
Key specs:
️Range: 300 km
️Warhead: 1,000 kg HE (one of the heaviest payloads in this range class)
️CEP: ~450–1,000 m. This is not a precision weapon
️Fuel: Liquid (IRFNA/kerosene mix)
️Launch prep: Requires 30–60 minutes of fueling at the launch site before firing
That fueling window is the critical vulnerability.
Combat use:
First fired by Iran during the “War of the Cities” phase of the Iran–Iraq War (1985–1988), when both sides exchanged ballistic missile strikes on population centers. Iraq possessed larger Scud inventories. Iran used what it had available.
Because of its poor CEP, the Shahab-1 has always functioned as an area-effect weapon, intended to cause broad destruction rather than strike precise targets.
Iran has since moved far beyond this system technologically. However, the Shahab-1 remains in inventory, and Scud-B derivatives are still operated by resistance forces across the region.
Source: Telegram "DDGeopolitics"