Iran since yesterday has conducted test-launches of missiles with varying ranges, according to wire service reports (see GSN, Sept. 22).
(Sep. 28) -
Iran fires its short-range Tondar missile during an exercise yesterday. The Middle Eastern state conducted several missile tests over two days (Shaigan/Getty Images).
"Upgraded" versions of Iran's Shahab 3 and Sajjil missiles were tested today during military exercises, according to Iranian state media. Both weapons are said to have ranges around 1,250 miles, a distance that would place Israel and U.S. military targets within their reach, Reuters reported.
The launches came as negotiators from the five permanent U.N. Security Council nations, Germany and the European Union prepared to join Iran in talks on Thursday that are likely to address the Middle Eastern nation's nuclear activities. The talks would follow close on the heels of Tehran's announcement that it is building another uranium enrichment facility (see related GSN story, today).
"This is a military drill which is deterrent in nature. There is no connection whatsoever with the nuclear program," said Iranian government spokesman Hassan Qashqavi (Dahl/Jaseb, Reuters, Sept. 28).
"Iranian missiles are able to target any place that threatens Iran," said high-level Revolutionary Guard commander Abdollah Araqi.
Today's launches followed testing of Iran's Shahab 1 missile, which can fly 185 miles, and the Shahab 2, which has a range of 435 miles, the Associated Press reported. The military earlier reportedly fired off short-range Fateh, Tondar and Zelzal missiles, which have respective ranges of 120, 93 and 130 miles.
"This sends the wrong signal to the international community at a time when Iran is due to meet" with the U.N. powers, according to the British Foreign Office (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press I/Yahoo!News, Sept. 28).
A multiple-missile battery designed for the Zelzal missile was also tested for the first time, Iranian state media reported (Nasser Karimi, Associated Press II/Google News, Sept. 27);
"Missiles are for (Iranians) what both tactical and strategic air power are for the West," said Uzi Rubin, Israel's former top missile defense official, according to the Washington Post.
Iranian leaders have long denied their nuclear-weapon ambitions, but their motivations for the latest missile tests were "transparent," Rubin said. "They want to deter any U.S. or Israeli attack (and) Iranian leaders openly wish for U.S. satellites to take pictures of their weapons sites and to see their capability," he told the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control (Pincus/DeYoung, Washington Post, Sept. 28).