Iran’s missile surge: Posturing for leverage or preparing for war?

In recent months, several indicators have suggested that Iran is in the midst of a mass push to reconstitute its ballistic missile arsenal.

Western intelligence services have identified a sharp increase in the flow of dual-use materials into the country, most notably sodium perchlorate , a chemical that can be converted into ammonium perchlorate, the oxidizer used in solid-fuel ballistic missiles. CNN investigators have tracked 10 to 12 recent shipments from Chinese ports to Bandar Abbas, a central node in Iran’s missile production architecture, totaling more than 2,000 tons of fuel material. These transfers represent one of the largest documented movements of dual-use materials into Iran in recent years.

Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Project at the Middle