Tag Archives: missiles

US Claims Russian Missiles Failed, Crashed in Iran

by Jason Ditz

One day after widespread media reports about Russia using cruise missiles to attack ISIS from ships in the Caspian Sea, US media outlets are reporting that US officials say some of the missiles failed en route and slammed into Iran. They further claimed “there may be casualties.”

The cruise missiles are known to have flown over Iranian and Iraqi airspace on their way to targets across Syria, and US analysts were expressing surprise about the capabilities of the Russian missiles, saying they’d never known they had such a long range.

Bizarrely, however, there has been no report in the Iranian media of any of these missile crashes, nor indeed has any Russian outlet reported any of the missiles failing. There were thus no actual media reports suggesting damage or casualties in Iran, nor indeed any missile crashes at all.

This has to raise questions about the US claims, as the Obama Administration has been shown increasingly desperate to portray Russia’s military involvement in Syria as doomed to failure, and may be pushing out the claims of errant missiles without much evidence that it actually happened.

North Korea fires missiles into the sea as drills begin

As South Korea and the United States were about to begin their annual military exercises in the area, North Korea protested the drills, once again, by firing two missiles into the sea on Monday.

According to Reuters, the two missiles were fired from a military base on the western coast of North Korea near Nampo City. The missiles reportedly traveled about 305 miles to the east, landing in the Sea of Japan.

The missiles were fired hours before the joint U.S. and South Korean military drills, known as Foal Eagle and Key Reserve according to CNN, were set to begin. North Korea has always been angered by the drills, saying they are nothing but a “smokescreen” used by the U.S. and South Korea so the two countries can invade their country.

North Korea’s state-run news outlet, KCNA, said, “The situation on the Korean peninsula is again inching close to the brink of a war.” They also noted how the North Korean military will not remain “passive” forever.

However, as many people know, this is not the first time North Korea has fired missiles in protest to the U.S. and South Korean military exercises.

The 2013 drills, in particular, led to the North Korean government threatening nuclear strikes over the drills, according to the BBC. The drills went on as planned and no retaliatory strikes were ever carried out by North Korea.

Kim Min-seok, the South Korean Defense Ministry spokesperson, said at a briefing Monday, “North Korea in the past did fire (projectiles) in a very similar manner… On several occasions, they fired (projectiles) from the west coast to sea off east of the Korean Peninsula.” Kim also said the drills were simply a warning against any “reckless” or “provocative” act the North Korean military may carry out.

KCNA however, said these drills are acts of “aggression” and they will be met with “merciless strikes.”

The South Korean Defense Ministry believes the missiles were either Scud-C or Scud-D missiles.