Unsure if this was photoshoppedTEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said it test-fired a new generation of surface-to-surface missile Wednesday and that the Islamic Republic was ready to defend itself against any attacker.
Iran's latest missile test followed persistent speculation in recent months of possible U.S. or Israeli strikes against its nuclear facilities, which the West suspects form part of a covert weapons program, a charge Tehran denies. U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, like outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush, has not ruled out military action although he has criticized the Bush administration for not pursuing more diplomacy and engagement with Tehran.
Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said the Iranian-made surface-to-surface Sejil missile had "extremely high capabilities" and was only intended for defensive purposes. He said it had a range of close to 2,000 km (1,200 miles), almost as much as another Iranian missile called Shahab 3. That would enable it to reach Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf.
"This missile test is in the framework of Iran's deterrent doctrine," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying. "It will only land on the heads of those enemies ... who want to make an aggression and invade the Islamic Republic," said Najjar, who did not mention any country by name.
Iran's English-language Press TV said the Sejil missile had two stages and was of a type that used combined solid fuel. A missile was shown soaring from a platform in desert-like terrain, leaving a long vapour trail.
It came a day after media said the Revolutionary Guards had test-fired another missile called Samen near the Iraqi border. "They do it all the time. It's Iranian machismo," said Tim Ripley, an analyst at Jane's Defense Weekly.
Two stages could increase a missile's range, he said, noting that Iran had in the past borrowed technology from North Korea although he said he could not say if that was true this time.