As the US and Israeli-led bombardment of the Middle Eastern nation continues, a military historian and author has weighed in on Iran's missile capabilities and assessed its threat to the UK

Iran has a missile capable of reaching the UK, but there is a key reason why such an attack remains extremely unlikely for the time being, it has been claimed. As the US and Israeli-led bombardment of the Middle Eastern nation continues, military historian and author Dr Mark Felton has weighed in on Iran's missile capabilities.

In the aftermath of the assault, Iran launched retaliatory attacks against its Gulf neighbours, with oil prices rising dramatically and a new front opening in Lebanon. Meanwhile, Iran has closed off the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial passage for global oil shipments.

Mark started his commentary by alluding to a previous video, in which he explored the hypothetical scenario of Russia launching a non-nuclear attack on the UK using swarms of cruise missiles deployed from aircraft and submarines.

Speaking in a video for his YouTube channel, Mark Felton Productions, he detailed how this type of assault could target key elements of Britain's infrastructure and defences—including power, radar and early warning systems, ports, bridges, and military bases.

In a further unsettling note, Mark asserted that the UK is "not prepared for any such attacks". He pointed out that we don't have an Israeli-style Iron Dome air defence system or surface-to-air missiles safeguarding our infrastructure or nuclear power.

Mark shifted focus to the ongoing conflict with Iran and the alarming prospect of Iranian missiles targeting the UK, referencing commentary that suggests ballistic missiles could potentially reach "deep into Western Europe."

Mark explained that this is "completely true" and posed the question: "Could an Iran fighting for its existence against its enemies and possessing vast stocks of missiles lob a few at us Europeans as punishment for our government's support of the Israeli US attack?

"And could they even strike London? The answer is really quite fascinating and highlights the great danger of going to war with such a nation as Iran."

Mark noted that Iran has apparently "self-limited" the range of the majority of its ballistic missiles to roughly 2,000km. But it also has the Khorramshahr-4 – a missile capable of achieving an "absolute maximum range" of 3,000km, subject to the warhead's weight.

He explained that the latter is based on information from experts, but if we assume this is accurate, then Iran could launch a missile from the west of the country and hit Copenhagen, Denmark, which is a distance of some 592 miles to London by train.

London remains "completely out of range", though Mark added that Iran is in possession of other rockets that have the range "probably to hit the UK", but they are not currently being used for this purpose.

Mark said: "Iran does possess a couple of rocket types that certainly have the range probably to hit the UK, though probably also they have not yet been modified to deliver a conventional warhead.

"And those rockets are, of course, used in Iran's space programme. Iran has been placing its own satellites into orbit for some years using space launch vehicles or SLVs.

"Western nations have been concerned for years that Iranian SLVs could provide a pathway to an intercontinental ballistic missile capability, ICBM, if Iran successfully develops a nuclear warhead."

Fortunately, however, there is "no evidence" that the nation has done this. Mark then drew his audience's attention to some of the SLVs in Iran's possession, including one that has a 3,000 to 4000km range, the Ghaem-100.

Mark maintained that this particular missile is likely not capable of hitting Britain, but the Iranians "do have such a rocket", the Simorgh; this has a range of 4,000 to 6,000km.

Nevertheless, he highlighted certain critical difficulties for Iran, including accuracy and engineering a re-entry vehicle robust enough to safeguard the warhead from the heat and stress associated with atmospheric re-entry.

Summing up, he stressed that the main reason Iran will unlikely ever hit the UK with a missile is because it does not have the systems required to effectively deploy warheads, rendering it "technically impossible for Iran to bombard the UK" for now.