U.S. says several Russian missiles crashed in Iran

Reporting from Washington —  Several Russian cruise missiles fired from warships in the Caspian Sea at rebel positions in Syria crashed instead in northern Iran, U.S. officials said Thursday, disputing Russian claims that all the missiles hit their intended targets.

U.S. intelligence analysts believe that four of the 26 Kalibr guided missiles launched Wednesday fell short. Other officials said two may have crashed.

It wasn’t immediately clear where they had struck, or whether they caused any damage or casualties. CNN first reported the U.S. claims.

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Four Russian warships launched a naval bombardment at Syrian targets early Wednesday from more than 900 miles away in Russia’s first use of cruise missiles in combat.

The flight path would have taken the guided missiles over northern Iran and northern Iraq.

After the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying that all the missiles had hit their targets.

Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter sharply criticized the Russian operation at a news conference Thursday at NATO headquarters in Brussels. He said Moscow had not given Washington a warning of the missile attack.

U.S. intelligence analysts portrayed the over-the-horizon barrage as Putin showing off his country’s new military capabilities for a domestic and international audience, not for their effectiveness in Syria’s civil war.

Cruise missiles normally are launched to avoid heavy air defenses that might pose danger to manned bombers. Syria’s rebel militias have no air force or major anti-aircraft systems.

“Russia launched cruise missiles as part of Putin’s propaganda campaign to show Russia as a modern military force able to strike targets from long distances,” one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal assessments.

The salvo sends a message “that Russia is a player,” the official said.

In September 2014, the Navy launched 47 Tomahawk cruise missiles from warships in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea at targets in Syria. Since then, the Pentagon has chiefly relied on bombers and armed drones.

There was no official comment to the U.S. report. Iran is backing Russia’s intervention in Syria. Moscow and Tehran both are providing military hardware and other support to the embattled Syrian president, Bashar Assad.

But an Iranian official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, denied that any Russian missiles had landed in the territory of the Islamic Republic.

The Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, denied that any Russian missiles had missed their targets and landed in Iran.

In a statement carried by Russia’s Interfax news agency, he pointed to live video on the ministry’s website showing missile strikes.

“While conducting these operations, we always record the image of the target before and after the hit,” he said.

“Therefore, however unpleasant and ‘sudden’ for our colleagues in the Pentagon and Langley yesterday’s strike by precision weapons against [Islamic State] infrastructure in Syria was, the missiles launched from the ships found their targets.

“This is the fact. Otherwise, one would have to admit that the terrorist group’s facilities located at a considerable distance from each other blew up by themselves yesterday, almost simultaneously,” he said.

Bennett reported from Washington and Hennigan from Brussels. Times correspondents Carol W. Williams in Los Angeles and Patrick McDonnell in Beirut also contributed.

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