During an unveiling ceremony for a new long-range missile, Iran’s military chief of staff, Mohammad Baqeri, maintained that “Iran is consistently improving its missile capabilities to counter aggressors, oppressors, global arrogance [ie, the U.S.] as well as murderous Zionists [ie, Israel]”. Relatedly, a Pentagon spokesperson remarked that the Iranians were “advancing a ballistic missile program that is designed for offensive purposes to inflict harm and damage potentially lethal so on other states, other peoples, and our allies and partners. We don’t look at this as a messaging issue. We look at it as a legitimate national security threat issue in the region to our people, to our facilities, and to those of our allies and partners”.