"a complete game-changer if Iran has supersonic capability to attack ships in the area."
By Tyler Durden: As US carriers and warships mass in the Gulf and as the next round of Geneva talks are expected by week's end, Tehran appears to be quietly upgrading its ability to threaten maritime chokepoints.
According to Reuters, Iran is in advanced negotiations with Beijing to purchase Chinese-made CM-302 anti-ship cruise missiles - which are supersonic weapons (projectiles which go faster than the speed of sound) designed to skim low over the water and evade naval defenses.
"The deal for the Chinese-made CM-302 missiles is near completion. No delivery date has been agreed," informed sources told the outlet.
"Iran has military and security agreements with its allies, and now is an appropriate time to make use of these agreements," an Iranian Foreign Ministry official said separately, at a moment additional deals with Russia are being reported, including a half-billion Euro agreement for Moscow to send thousands of its advanced shoulder-fired missiles to Tehran.
As for the Chinese CM-302, it has a listed range of roughly 290 kilometers (or 180 miles) and is engineered specifically to penetrate layered ship defenses - which the Iranians would seek as they want to complicate US naval operations in the Persian Gulf and beyond, in the event of a hot conflict.


