Good news and bad news about Iranian missiles

A report by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies provided exclusively to AP suggests that Iranian missiles may be much as half as accurate as originally thought, based on an analysis of Iran's missile and drone attack against Israel in April.

While the United States assessed that about 50% of Iranian projectiles launched at Israel failed to launch or meet their targets, the new report stated that even those missiles that did approach their targets appeared to have an accuracy rate of 1.2 kilometers from the target, as opposed to the claimed 500 meters.

This greater inaccuracy and fail rate may explain the hesitancy of Iran to directly strike back at Israel after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, at least in the same way as it attacked in April.

However, the inaccuracy of the missiles matters only for conventional warheads. In the event Iran decides to develop nuclear weapons and warheads, which many experts and western officials claim they are close to doing, missing by a kilometer will not matter nearly as much.