Iran says it has lifted its self-imposed limit on missile ranges

Asked at a Tehran news conference about the limit on missile ranges, Gen. Hossein Mohebbi said, “That restriction has been lifted for us.”He did not say whether Iran had missiles capable of exceeding the limit, saying only Iran would “demonstrate these capabilities in practice” rather than make statements.

Iran is not known to have missiles that can go beyond the 2,000-kilometer (1,200-mile) limit — a range that puts parts of Greece and the Balkans, the entire Arabian Peninsula, the Levant and most of Egypt within reach. However, US officials have said technology from Iran’s space program can be repurposed to build intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The Iranian military, meanwhile, said a tanker east of the Strait of Hormuz had hit a mine and caught fire. It did not identify the tanker’s flag or destination.

It said the vessel had turned off its navigational beacon and was sailing in a “prohibited area.”US says its blockade on Iranian port continues, announces new task forceUS Central Command said Saturday that “strict enforcement” of the US blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz continues.

It also announced a new task force focusing on hampering Iran’s options to transport what it called “advanced weapons and other materials” through its land borders and the Caspian Sea. Iran established a chokehold on the strait, a vital strategic waterway in global trade, at the beginning of the war, and has claimed attacks on tankers.

The US says its blockade had redirected 144 commercial vessels through the end of October.