Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Iran conducts missile tests
* Tehran restricts 38 UN nuclear inspectors from entering Iran
TEHRAN: Iran conducted missile tests Monday as its leadership stepped up warnings of possible military confrontation with the United States. Hard-liners said an American attack would spark ââ¬Åhellââ¬Â for the US and Israel, with some threatening suicide attacks against US forces.
The drum-beating suggests Iran does not intend to back down as tensions mount on both fronts of its confrontation with the United States and the West - the nuclear issue and the turmoil in neighbouring Iraq. In another defiant move, Iranian officials on Monday said Tehran had rejected 38 UN nuclear inspectors from a list of potential inspectors - apparently in retaliation for a Security Council resolution last month imposing limited sanctions on the country.
Others on the list would be allowed to enter the country, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, without giving the reasons for the bans. The IAEA confirmed Iranian word of the ban but said this would not handicap its monitoring of a plant where Iran plans soon to expand from experimental into industrial-scale output of nuclear fuel in defiance of a UN Security Council resolution.
Iranââ¬â¢s leaders have increasingly touted the possibility of a US attack since President George Bush announced on January 9 the deployment of a second aircraft carrier in the Gulf region, a move US officials have said is a show of strength directed at Iran.
The Iranian military on Monday began five days of maneuvers near the northern city of Garmsar, about 100 kilometres southeast of Tehran, state television reported. The military tested its Zalzal-1 and Fajr-5 missiles, the TV reported. The Zalzal-1, able to carry a 600 kilogram payload, has a range of 350 kilometres, making it able to hit anywhere in Iraq or US bases in the Gulf as well as into eastern Saudi Arabia. The Fajr-5, with a 900 kilogram payload, has a range of 70 kilometres.
The Iranian show of strength came as the American aircraft carrier USS Stennis was heading toward the Gulf region, joining the USS Dwight D Eisenhower in a beefed-up American military presence.
The Stennis is expected to arrive in late February. The US is also deploying Patriot missiles and nuclear submarines to the Persian Gulf and F16 fighter planes to the Incirlik base in neighbouring Turkey.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\01\23\story_23-1-2007_pg7_33
Iran conducts missile tests
* Tehran restricts 38 UN nuclear inspectors from entering Iran
TEHRAN: Iran conducted missile tests Monday as its leadership stepped up warnings of possible military confrontation with the United States. Hard-liners said an American attack would spark ââ¬Åhellââ¬Â for the US and Israel, with some threatening suicide attacks against US forces.
The drum-beating suggests Iran does not intend to back down as tensions mount on both fronts of its confrontation with the United States and the West - the nuclear issue and the turmoil in neighbouring Iraq. In another defiant move, Iranian officials on Monday said Tehran had rejected 38 UN nuclear inspectors from a list of potential inspectors - apparently in retaliation for a Security Council resolution last month imposing limited sanctions on the country.
Others on the list would be allowed to enter the country, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, without giving the reasons for the bans. The IAEA confirmed Iranian word of the ban but said this would not handicap its monitoring of a plant where Iran plans soon to expand from experimental into industrial-scale output of nuclear fuel in defiance of a UN Security Council resolution.
Iranââ¬â¢s leaders have increasingly touted the possibility of a US attack since President George Bush announced on January 9 the deployment of a second aircraft carrier in the Gulf region, a move US officials have said is a show of strength directed at Iran.
The Iranian military on Monday began five days of maneuvers near the northern city of Garmsar, about 100 kilometres southeast of Tehran, state television reported. The military tested its Zalzal-1 and Fajr-5 missiles, the TV reported. The Zalzal-1, able to carry a 600 kilogram payload, has a range of 350 kilometres, making it able to hit anywhere in Iraq or US bases in the Gulf as well as into eastern Saudi Arabia. The Fajr-5, with a 900 kilogram payload, has a range of 70 kilometres.
The Iranian show of strength came as the American aircraft carrier USS Stennis was heading toward the Gulf region, joining the USS Dwight D Eisenhower in a beefed-up American military presence.
The Stennis is expected to arrive in late February. The US is also deploying Patriot missiles and nuclear submarines to the Persian Gulf and F16 fighter planes to the Incirlik base in neighbouring Turkey.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\01\23\story_23-1-2007_pg7_33
