You’re right, sorry for skipping over the “ago” rather than “B.C” OTOH, if you use the Bible concordance, iron is mentioned as being used in objects some time before 1200 BC, according to the time line presented in the 1200 BC hypothesis I saw.
It’s also very possible iron smelting and working was independently discovered by different groups at different times who were all familiar with copper and bronze smelting and may have accidentally discovered iron smelting while using it as a flux for their copper smelting. I think the key was learning how to make kilns that were hot enough to work iron.