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Iran test-fires missiles amid nuclear tension
The missile maneuvers coincide with escalating tension in Iran's nuclear row with the West, after last week's disclosure by Tehran that it is building a second uranium enrichment plant.
News of the nuclear facility south of Iran added a sense of urgency to a crucial meeting in Geneva on Thursday between Iranian officials and representatives of six major powers, including the United States. An Iranian official warned "fabricated Western clamor" over the new plant would negatively affect the talks at which the six powers want Iran to agree to open its facilities to inspection to prove its program is for power and not nuclear weapons.
The missile maneuvers coincide with escalating tension in Iran's nuclear row with the West, after last week's disclosure by Tehran that it is building a second uranium enrichment plant. News of the nuclear facility added a sense of urgency to a crucial meeting in Geneva on Thursday |
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's IAEA envoy, said, referring to the six powers' concern over the new plant: "This Western approach will have a negative impact on Iran's negotiations with the 5+1 countries." US President Barack Obama said on Saturday the discovery of the secret nuclear plant in Iran showed a "disturbing pattern" of evasion by Tehran that added urgency to its talks on Thursday with world powers.
Obama warned Iran on Friday it would face "sanctions that bite" if it did not come clean. Earlier this month, Obama dropped a Bush-era plan to deploy missiles in Poland that had been proposed as a shield amid concerns Iran was trying to develop nuclear warheads it could mount on long-range missiles.
 The missile maneuvers coincide with escalating tension in Iran's nuclear row with the West, after last week's disclosure by Tehran that it is building a second uranium enrichment plant. News of the nuclear facility added a sense of urgency to a crucial meeting in Geneva on Thursday. |
Iran's missile firepower "gives us the possibility to confront every kind of threat with a long-lasting defense deterrence," Iranian Gen. Hossein Salami said on Sunday. "The message of this maneuver is for some domineering countries whose intention is to create fear, to say that we are able to come up with an appropriate response to their enmity with high speed and precision," Salami, head of the Guards' air force, said on the Guards' website.
Iran conducts war games or tests weapons to show its determination to counter attack by foes such as Israel or the United States. The Revolutionary Guards launched at least two different types of short-range missiles on the exercise's first day and also tested a multiple missile launcher, Iranian media said.
 Gen. Hossein Salami, head of the Revolutionary Guard Air Force, tells reporters that Iran has tested a multiple missile launcher for the first time. |
State radio said the Guards today would test-fire the Shahab 3 missile, which Iranian officials say has a range of around 2,000 kilometers, potentially putting Israel and US bases in the Gulf within reach. It was last tested in mid-2008.
Vapor trails
State television showed footage of missiles soaring into the sky in desert-like terrain, leaving vapor trails. English-language Press TV said the weapons tested on Sunday included a ground-to-ground missile and a naval missile, naming them as Fateh (Victorious) and Tondar (Thunder).
The Guards said "the drill aims to maintain and boost the country's armed forces deterrent capabilities," Press TV said. The United States, which suspects Iran is seeking to build nuclear bombs, has previously expressed concern about Tehran's missile program. Iran says its nuclear work is solely for peaceful power generation purposes.
Neither the United States nor its ally Israel have ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the nuclear row. Iran has said it would respond to any attack by targeting US interests in the region and Israel, as well as closing the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for world oil supplies.
Iran acknowledged the existence of the enrichment plant near the holy city of Qom for the first time on Monday to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog.
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