Iran

Iran carries out long-range missile test

Article published on the 2008-07-09 Latest update 2008-07-09 13:16 TU

Ali Khamanei
(Photo: AFP)

Iran test-fired a long-range missile on Wednesday, according to state-run Arabic channel Al-Alam. The Shahab-3, was one of nine missiles fired in the earlyn morning from an undisclosed location in the Iranian desert. The US condemned the test, calling it a violation of UN Security Council resolutions. 

Al-Alam reported that the Shahab-3 is a conventional warhead weighing one tonne and capable of covering a 2,000-kilometre range. The distance between Natanz, where the US and Western powers believe Iran is enriching uranium for nuclear warhead purposes, and Israel is a total of 1,450 kilometres.

"The aim of these war games is to show we are ready to defend the integrity of the Iranian nation," Al-Alam quoted Revolutionary Guards Air Force Commander Hossein Salami as saying.

On Tuesday, an aide Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Iran would "set fire" to Israel and the US Navy in the Gulf if the US attacked Iran over its nuclear programme.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly made hostile statements about Israel, predicting that the Jewish state is doomed to disappear.

Information has emerged that Israel had conducted military maneouvres in Greece, which could have been a practice run for a strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.

Israel conducted an air strike in Syria in September 2007, reportedly targeting a partially-completed nuclear reactor.