Iran Test-Fires Short-Range Missiles

By CHIP CUMMINS

Iran said it test-fired a handful of short-range missiles Sunday -- part of a large-scale military exercise planned for the next few days -- as Iranian diplomats defended a recently revealed nuclear site.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Sunday the exercise, called "Great Prophet 4," was being carried out to assess "recent development and tactical progress" in Iran's missile-defense systems, according to Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami, an IRGC spokesman quoted by state news outlets.

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards tested short-range missiles and conducted war games in a bid to bolster its military capabilities. Courtesy of Reuters.
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Iran's state-run English-language news service, Press TV, said Sunday morning that the IRGC fired several missiles, including the Fateh and Tondar missiles. Both are short-range missiles that are well-known components of Iran's arsenal. Iran said the firings included a successful test of a multi-missile launcher, but didn't elaborate.

A U.S. official confirmed missile and rocket launches, saying they were conducted inside Iranian airspace in the north of the country. The official declined to comment further.

The military exercise appeared part of a now-familiar Iranian response to heightened international pressure. In July 2008, Iran briefly rattled oil markets when it said it had successfully tested advanced shore-to-sea, surface-to-surface and sea-to-air missiles during an exercised called "Great Prophet 3."

At the time, Iranian officials also said they had successfully launched an enhanced version of a previously tested missile capable of reaching Israel. Western military analysts viewed the claim of a significant technology advance skeptically.

The 2008 exercise came during a spike in tensions between Iran and the West. At the time, members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany had recently presented Tehran with an offer of economic incentives in exchange for Iran halting its uranium-enrichment program. Last year's missile drill also came after reports Israel had conducted a bombing test run against an Iranian nuclear site.

This time, the military exercise comes ahead of talks with the same U.N. Security Council members, plus Germany, scheduled for Oct. 1 in Geneva. On Friday, the U.S., France and Britain announced a previously undisclosed Iranian facility for the enrichment of uranium and demanded Iran give the International Atomic Energy Agency access to the site.

The disclosure, made after Iran declared the existence of the site to the IAEA, could boost Western leverage over Tehran in this week's talks. Iran maintains it is developing peaceful, nuclear energy. Western and Arab officials worry it is pursuing weapons.

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Iran missile test
AFP/Getty Images

An Iranian short-range missile is test-launched during war games in Qom.
Iran missile test
Iran missile test

The newly disclosed site raises fresh questions about Iranian intentions. It also gives Washington and European capitals more ammunition to push the case for tough new economic sanctions against Iran, if Tehran doesn't agree to give up its enrichment program.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the disclosure of the site could force more economic penalties against Iran, the Associated Press reported.

He played down the effectiveness of military strikes against the site, however, arguing that pressuring Tehran economically and diplomatically would have a better chance of changing the Tehran government's policies.

"The reality is, there is no military option that does anything more than buy time," he told CNN's "State of the Union" in an interview broadcast Sunday.

Over the weekend, Iranian diplomats defended the facility. Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, said Iran hadn't been trying to hide the facility and disclosed its existence well before it was required under the Vienna-based IAEA rules, according to a weekend interview with Press TV.

He said those rules stipulate the IAEA must be informed of an enrichment plant six months before the plant goes into operation. Mr. Sotaniyeh said the new plant was still two years from starting up.

"Now I challenge the United States or the U.K. or France to come to Vienna with their top legal experts and prove to me that we had had concealment," Mr. Soltaniyeh said.

Israel has trumpeted the latest discoveries as proof of its long-held assertion that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons.

"The revelation of the secret Iranian facility also demonstrates to even the most skeptical people the evil intentions of Iran," said Danny Ayalon, Israel's deputy foreign minister told AP.

"The Iran's ongoing military maneuvers including the last one and all their missile tests are a huge challenge to the international community," he added in an interview with Israel's Channel 10.

He described Iran as the "most serious threat" to peace in the world.