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| Four Syria-Bound Russian Missiles Crashed in Iran, U.S. Officials Say | Four Syria-Bound Russian Missiles Crashed in Iran, U.S. Officials Say |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| BRUSSELS — Four cruise missiles in a barrage of 26 fired by Russia from warships in the Caspian Sea at targets in Syria crashed in a rural area of northern Iran, senior United States officials said on Thursday. Russian and Iranian officials dismissed the claim as nonsense. | |
| It was unclear exactly where in Iran the missiles might have landed, or whether there had been any casualties or damage. The United States officials said the flight path of the Russian cruise missiles, called Kalibrs, would have taken them across northern sections of Iran and Iraq en route to Syria. | It was unclear exactly where in Iran the missiles might have landed, or whether there had been any casualties or damage. The United States officials said the flight path of the Russian cruise missiles, called Kalibrs, would have taken them across northern sections of Iran and Iraq en route to Syria. |
| Of the initial 26-missile volley, the officials said, four went awry and hit northern Iran, according to technical sources of information like satellite imagery. | Of the initial 26-missile volley, the officials said, four went awry and hit northern Iran, according to technical sources of information like satellite imagery. |
| The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss military intelligence. | The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss military intelligence. |
| News of the apparent crashes, which were first reported by CNN, came as Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter sharply criticized what he called Russia’s “unprofessional” conduct in its incursion into Syria. Speaking at a NATO news conference in Brussels, Mr. Carter said that Moscow had fired the cruise missiles with no advance notice. | |
| Mr. Carter warned, “In coming days, the Russians will begin to suffer casualties.” | |
| American officials also said that some sort of problem with the missiles should not have been unexpected, since they had never been fired in wartime. | American officials also said that some sort of problem with the missiles should not have been unexpected, since they had never been fired in wartime. |
| “This was the first operational test of these in operational conditions,” one official said of the Russian Kalibrs. | “This was the first operational test of these in operational conditions,” one official said of the Russian Kalibrs. |
| An American defense official said it was something of a surprise that Russia had used cruise missiles to attack Syrian targets, given that those weapons are more commonly used in the face of heavy air defenses. | An American defense official said it was something of a surprise that Russia had used cruise missiles to attack Syrian targets, given that those weapons are more commonly used in the face of heavy air defenses. |
| Russia is allied with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, so it would presumably not face any opposition from Syrian government forces. The rebel groups there that Russia has been attacking, including the Islamic State, have no air defenses. | Russia is allied with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, so it would presumably not face any opposition from Syrian government forces. The rebel groups there that Russia has been attacking, including the Islamic State, have no air defenses. |
| American military officials speculated that Russia may simply have wanted to demonstrate its cruise missile capability to the world. | American military officials speculated that Russia may simply have wanted to demonstrate its cruise missile capability to the world. |
| In Moscow, Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian military operation in Syria, denied that any of the missiles had fallen short of their targets. | In Moscow, Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian military operation in Syria, denied that any of the missiles had fallen short of their targets. |
| Mr. Konashenkov said sarcastically that if the report were true, “we would have to admit that the sites of the terrorist group Islamic State in Syria, located far apart from one another, just blew up on their own.” | |
| He also chastised Mr. Carter for his statement about Russian casualties, describing it as cynical and inappropriate. | |
| “In its assessments of the American military’s actions in various operations, carried out all around the world, representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defense not once stooped as low as publicly awaiting the death of an American soldier,” Mr. Konashenkov said. “Not to mention of any ordinary American.” | |
| An Iranian official, Hamidreza Taraghi, who is close to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, laughed at the report that missiles had crashed. “This is complete nonsense,” he said. | |
| Iran’s semiofficial Fars News Agency described the report as part of the West’s “psychological warfare” against the Russian-Iranian alliance with Mr. Assad. | Iran’s semiofficial Fars News Agency described the report as part of the West’s “psychological warfare” against the Russian-Iranian alliance with Mr. Assad. |
| A few social media users in Iran began linking the reported missile crashes to an explosion in northwestern Iran on Wednesday, when the official Islamic Republic News Agency, quoting the governor of the city of Takab, reported that an “unidentified flying object” had crashed in a mountainous area. That report also quoted locals as saying the explosion had broken windows in the area. | A few social media users in Iran began linking the reported missile crashes to an explosion in northwestern Iran on Wednesday, when the official Islamic Republic News Agency, quoting the governor of the city of Takab, reported that an “unidentified flying object” had crashed in a mountainous area. That report also quoted locals as saying the explosion had broken windows in the area. |
| Russia inadvertently revealed problems with seaborne missiles this summer when its navy conducted an errant launch. | |
| The episode happened during a military parade in Sevastopol, the Crimean port city annexed from Ukraine in 2014, when a missile blew apart on a ship during a demonstration firing. Spectators wondered aloud what had happened after pieces of the missile flopped into the sea. | |
| Some Russian analysts say the Kremlin is using the conflict in Syria to test a new generation of weaponry from a major procurement program that military officials began in 2010 after years of oil-boom profits. | |
| “There are radars and all sorts of new control systems, and of course we need a firing range,” Konstantin Remchukov, the editor of Nezavisimaya Gazeta, told the Echo of Moscow radio station this week. | |
| “We carried out a lot of exercises,” Mr. Remchukov said. “But a firing range like that opening before us in Syria, with these bombing sorties, with drones and other objects of the new generation, this is, of course, a favorable place for fine-tuning all our new weaponry.” |