Can Iran reach Hungary or Hungarian-inhabited areas with its missiles and drones?

It is said that Donald Trump, the US President, was taken aback to learn that Iran, in retaliation for strikes by the United States and Israel, launched missiles at Gulf states too—often with success. Indeed, an Iranian missile or drone has already struck territory belonging to a Nato member. But could the Iranians reach Hungary or Hungarian-populated regions with their long-range missiles and drones?

Surprising counterstrikes?

The US-Israel offensive against the Middle Eastern power, launched on the last day of February, has already yielded valuable lessons for defence ministries and armies worldwide. One key takeaway may be that the myth of Iranian mid-tier power counts for little: Tehran’s air defences proved utterly incapable of countering the assault, suffering heavy losses from day one—including the death of its paramount leader, Ali Homeini. This episode speaks volumes about the Russian and Chinese military hardware on which the regime relies.

President Trump voiced his astonishment last week, admitting he had not anticipated Iranian attacks on Gulf states. From the outset of the coordinated offensive, Tehran targeted American bases, but its missiles and drones also hit facilities in Israel, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. These strikes claimed lives, including in the UAE, Kuwait, and Israel.

Iran strikes a Nato member state

Yet during the conflict, it was not only neighbouring countries that came under fire—distant territories felt the sting too. The British initially resisted allowing US forces to use their bases (drawing criticism from Trump in the process), but later relented; an Iranian drone even crashed into their base in Cyprus (which formally remains British sovereign territory). This did not, however, trigger Nato intervention—just as the Gulf states have stayed out of the war, wary of justifying conflict alongside Israel to their publics, many of whom harbour anti-Israel sentiment over Gaza.

Hungary faces no direct military threat from Iran, but drones have already struck the Erbil air base in Iraq, which hosts Hungarian troops. The real question, given the roughly 2,000km distance between Hungary and Iran, is whether Tehran could mount a successful attack at such range.

According to ATV, the Middle Eastern power boasts the Middle East’s largest missile arsenal, comprising thousands of ballistic and cruise missiles—enough to keep targets as far as 1,500km away, such as Israel, under constant fire.

These Hungarian areas could fall within Iranian missile and drone range

For us, fortune smiles. None of Iran’s missiles can strike beyond 2,000km, placing the Hungarian border just out of reach. Its longest-range models—the Sejjil, Emad, Ghadr-110, Shahab-3, and Khorramshahr—all top out at precisely 2,000km. That would allow strikes on Szeklerland or Partium’s Hungarian communities, but not Hungary proper. The Shahid-136 drones tell a different story, however: with a 2,500km range, they could hit even as far as Sopron or Szombathely.

Russia, of course, deploys modified versions of these Shahed drones to devastating effect in Ukraine. Tehran has supplied arms not only to Moscow but previously to the Yemeni Houthis, Palestinian Hamas, Lebanese Hezbollah, and its Iraqi proxies too.

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