By Arie Egozi, Autonomy Global – Ambassador for Israel
With AI-assisted guidance systems, Iran’s new Abu Mahdi long-range cruise missile is designed primarily to strike naval ships at extended ranges in contested maritime zones. The missile is positioned as a key pillar in Tehran’s evolving anti-access/area-denial posture across the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea, enabling standoff attacks against high-value surface combatants and critical coastal infrastructure.
The Abu Mahdi is an Iranian long-range cruise missile engineered for both anti-ship and land-attack missions, giving Iranian forces flexible targeting options from multiple launch platforms. Named after Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the Iraqi militia leader killed in a 2020 US airstrike alongside Qasem Soleimani, the system carries symbolic and strategic weight in Iran’s regional deterrence strategy. It was publicly unveiled in August 2020 and entered mass production by 2023, indicating that operational deployment has moved beyond prototype or demonstration status.
Developed under Iran’s “Meshkat” project, the missile reportedly draws heavily on reverse-engineering of Russia’s Kh-55, integrating a turbojet engine to achieve a range in excess of 1,000 km. This is roughly three times the range of earlier Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles such as Raad or Qadir. It significantly extends the country’s maritime strike envelope. The extended reach allows Iranian forces to threaten carrier strike groups, logistics vessels and regional naval assets far beyond the Strait of Hormuz.
The Abu Mahdi leverages AI-powered guidance to support low-altitude sea-skimming flight profiles, enhancing survivability against radar detection and defensive fire. Dual-mode radar seekers, operating in both active and passive modes, allow the missile to acquire and track targets in complex electronic warfare environments while conducting evasive maneuvers against shipborne air defenses. This combination of AI-guided navigation, radar flexibility and low observable flight paths is designed to complicate interception by modern naval combat systems.
Recent developments include the delivery of mobile coastal launchers to IRGC and Iranian Navy units in January 2025, enabling dispersed, relocatable firing positions along the coastline. Iran also claims a submarine-launched variant with an extended range of up to 2,600 km, which, if operational, would dramatically expand strike options into the broader Indian Ocean and beyond. However, Israeli experts stress that the claimed submarine-launched capability and associated range figures cannot be independently verified at this stage. Ongoing uncertainty continues to swirl around the system’s true performance envelope.