Iran Claims Success in Tests Firing Long-Range Missiles - Download Free Phim, Nhac, Phan Mem, Karaoke

conmeo · #1 (**permalink**) 11-13-2008, 05:53 AM

TEHRAN — Iran said Wednesday that it successfully test fired a new generation of long-range surface-to-surface missiles with a range of 1,200 miles, state-run television reported. A senior official said the missile would be used only defensively, but did not identify a potential aggressor.

A television news broadcast said the new missile, called the Sejil, used solid fuel and was more accurate than some other missiles in the country’s arsenal. A British weapons expert, Duncan Lennox, said the missile seemed to resemble an earlier one called the Ashoura. Its claimed range would enable it to strike targets in Israel or the Persian Gulf region, he said,

Iran’s Defense Minister, Mostafa Mohammad Najar, was quoted by state-run television as saying the missile was “very fast,” could be produced and stored “in mass” and was easy to prepare for launching. Its launcher could immediately be removed from the firing location, he said.

The state television showed Mr. Najar praying before giving the order to fire. The missile was shown rising from a launching pad in a desert area and leaving a white trail in the sky.

Mr. Najar said the test had been planned for months and had nothing to do with any recent international developments.

“This missile gives our military force a new capability,” he said. “It was produced as part of our deterrent policy. It will be for peace and security in the region, and we will only use it against enemies who invade the Islamic Republic.” He did not refer to any specific country.

The news of the launching emerged a day after Iranian news media said that the Revolutionary Guards had test fired another new missile, known as the Samen, in the western city of Merivan, near the border with Iraq, on Monday.

Iran is locked in a long-running dispute with the United States and other powers over its nuclear enrichment program. While Western nations suspect that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon, Iran says it is enriching uranium solely for civilian purposes.

In the past, Iran has announced new developments in missile technology in a manner that Westerners interpreted as saber-rattling to bolster its regional and international posture.

Last July during a war game, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards test fired nine missiles, including at least one that the government in Tehran described as having the range to reach Israel.

At the time, state-run news media said the missiles were long- and medium-range weapons, and included a Shahab-3, which Tehran maintains can hit targets up to 1,250 miles away from its firing position. Parts of western Iran are within 650 miles of Tel Aviv.

Iran’s missile capacity is cited by the United States as one reason for an American plan to station an antimissile shield in eastern Europe — a project that has enraged Russia. In response, Moscow said last week that it would station short-range missiles in its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad if the United States went ahead with its plan.

Mr. Lennox, the editor of Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems, said the new missile’s claimed range would not reach eastern Europe. “The worry would be that it would be used against Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Israel — anyone in the region the Iranians took a dislike to,” he said by telephone.

The latest Iranian reports of missile test firings came after Iran said last week that American helicopters were spotted flying close to Iranian airspace.

The Bush administration has consistently refused to rule out military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities. But President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted on Wednesday that Iran would continue to seek access to “nuclear technology’s know-how.”

He also suggested that Iran would look closely for any shift in American policy following the election of Senator Barack Obama as president. “It doesn’t make a difference who comes and who leaves,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said in a speech broadcast live on state-run television from the northern city of Sari. “It is actions that will be carefully watched by Iranians and other nations in the world.”

According to the IRNA news agency, he continued: “Whoever talks with the great people of Iran with the language of force or in a rude, selfish and impolite tone would receive a clear response from the Iranian nation.”

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