- June 16, 2025: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stated, “We will provide support if Iran needs it,” while the Israel-Iran war continues. Following this statement, claims emerged that North Korea could send its strategic weapon, the Hwasong-16B missile, to Iran. As the Israel-Iran war becomes a crisis closely monitored by the entire world, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has openly supported the Tehran administration. Kim indicated a new geopolitical balance with his statement, “We will provide the necessary support if Iran needs it.” Following Kim’s remarks, all eyes turned to the Hwasong-16B missile, which North Korea describes as a “symbol of absolute superiority.” In recent months, Kim Jong Un personally supervised the test launch of the missile, which he had defined as “the pinnacle of defense technology.”
- April 2, 2026: multiple reports that North Korea has delivered 500 Hwasong-18 missiles to the IRGC.
This isn’t confirmed yet, but we’ll know if one of them is used. And given how the US, the UK, and the EU have been supplying Ukraine, they can hardly complain that China, North Korea, and Russia are supplying weapons and satellite intelligence to Iran, which has been their ally for a long time.
In the meantime, Iran’s missile launchers continue to undestroy themselves. Six weeks in, what was 90 percent destroyed in the first 48 hours is now only 50 percent destroyed.
‘Around half of Iran’s missile launchers and kamikaze drones remain intact despite a month of US-Israeli strikes, CNN reports, citing a military intelligence assessment.’
This isn’t a surprise to anyone who knows military history. The utility of air power has been wildly exaggerated by its advocates since Giulio Douhet and those exaggerations have been exposed in every military conflict from WWII to Desert Storm.
The overwrought threats of Donald Trump to Iran’s civilian infrastructure may be in response to Iran’s reported destruction of a significant part of the Israeli air force. If it’s true that a 300-missile barrage took out 40 planes on the ground yesterday, this will change the situation in the Middle East considerably in that Israel will no longer be able to hit back against Iran by itself.
Could these reports, which appear to be Chinese-generated, be fake? Absolutely. Are they unreliable? Definitely. And yet, they are less likely to be fake than the relentless US and Israeli insistence that a) all of Iran’s offensive capabilities were destroyed five weeks ago and b) none of Iran’s attacks have accomplished anything more than scratch the paint on a minor Israeli government official’s car.
It’s fascinating how Iranian missiles never hit anything, but so many targets keep getting “damaged by falling debris”.
2 responses to “North Korean Missiles in Iran”
I would have to say that 500 of these seems like far too many to be possible. It is a new missile and an ICBM, so it is a key weapon for NK and I find it improbable that they have even built that many of them yet even for their own use. Getting them all to Iran and unloaded would not have gone unnoticed either. Having said that, a much smaller number like 5 or 10 would be harder to dismiss and would have been more effective propaganda. It should remain worrisome to the US that NK is eager to assist if Iran needs the help. If the war continues to expand and other countries are drawn in, this regional fight could go global and NK could be tempted to take some shots. The removal of THAAD and Patriot batteries from Asia to backfill losses is likely to encourage Pyongyang.
Maybe the stated 500 was propaganda but for a different reason that would be dismissed because it was a large number and that 5 or 10 did make it through unnoticed I guess time will tell…