Iran says it has lifted its self-imposed limit on missile ranges, and other Mideast news

Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it has lifted a self-proclaimed limit of 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) on the range of its ballistic missiles, suggesting the country may seek to develop missiles capable of reaching more distant targets amid fears of renewed all-out war.

Meanwhile, heavy rains lashed the Gaza Strip , flooding tents and intensifying the misery of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians . Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Saturday. Read our full coverage here. Iran 's Revolutionary Guard lifts its missile-range limit The comments by the spokesman of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard came days after the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khomeini, warned that “any kind and level of threat” from the U.S. or Israel would face a response without geographic limits.

Asked at a Tehran press conference about the limit on missile ranges, Gen. Hossein Mohebbi said, “That restriction has been lifted for us.” He did not say whether Iran had missiles capable of exceeding the limit, saying only Iran would “demonstrate these capabilities in practice” rather than make statements. Iran is not known to have missiles that can go beyond the 2,000-kilometer (1,200-mile) limit — a range that puts parts of Greece and the Balkans, the entire Arabian Peninsula, the Levant and most of Egypt within reach.

However, U.S. officials have said technology from Iran’s space program can be repurposed to build intercontinental ballistic missiles. The Iranian military, meanwhile, said a tanker east of the Strait of Hormuz had hit a naval mine and caught fire. It did not identify the nationality or destination of the tanker, which it said had turned off its navigational beacon and was sailing in a “prohibited area.” Rains mark return of winter misery for Gaza's Palestinians In the Gaza Strip, displaced families spent a sleepless night as heavy rain flooded their fragile tents, soaked mattresses and belongings and turned camp pathways into pools of muddy water.

The rain marks the start of another difficult winter for the more than 1.6 million Palestinians living in tents or other makeshift shelters in the territory, where nearly the entire population has lost its homes from Israel’s campaign. Majed Al-Omari, who lost a limb during the war, struggled to make his way between tents on crutches after the rains tore down the wooden frame and plastic sheeting of his shelter. “We will have to sleep in the street tonight, or find somewhere else to stay,” he said.

The U.N. humanitarian office has said 294,250 families need shelter assistance for the rainy season, but available supplies are enough only to give partial help to 18% of those in need. It said lack of funds, slow procurement procedures and delayed approvals by the Israeli authorities mean additional supplies may not reach Palestinians until more than halfway through winter.