Iran test fires 'long-range' missiles

[AnGrz_Z_K_Jailer]

Iran tested two long-range missiles on Monday, state television reported.

The country's elite Revolutionary Guards test-fired its two-stage long-range Sejil missile, the Fars news agency and English-language Press TV channel said.

"For the first time the Guards tested the Sejil, a two-stage missile powered by solid fuel, in a missile manoeuvre," Fars said.

The Guards' air force commander Hossein Salami was quoted by Press TV as saying that the force test-fired the Sejil along with the other long-range Shahab-3 missile.

Tehran also tested a number of short- and medium-range missiles on Sunday and said its second uranium enrichment plant, revealed to the world last week, was ready to withstand any attack. The US, UK and others have said the plant was part of Iran's covert plans to build nuclear weapons in defiance of international agreements and contrary to Iran's assertion that its nuclear programme was for civilian purposes only. Tehran will be pressed at a crucial meeting in Geneva this week to open up its nuclear programme or face the prospect of crippling sanctions.

Israel has also threatened air strikes to prevent Iran acquiring a nuclear warhead but General Hossein Salami, head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Air Force, said: "We are going to respond to any military action in a crushing manner and it doesn't make any difference which country or regime has launched the aggression."

In fact, both the American and Israeli governments seemed over the weekend to play down the likelihood of an imminent air strike.

Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, said military action could only delay Iran's development of nuclear weapons.

"The reality is, there is no military option that does anything more than buy time," he told CNN. Mr Gates, who served in the previous administration of George W Bush, has already put himself at odds with hawks such as Dick Cheney, the former vice-president, who have argued in favour of prompt use of force against Iran.

Mr Gates also said yesterday that Iran had not made a formal decision to go ahead with nuclear weapons, again suggesting there was leeway for a diplomatic solution.

"My personal opinion is that the Iranians have the intention of having nuclear weapons," he said. "I think the question of whether they have made a formal decision to move towards the development of nuclear weapons is in doubt."

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has been making telephone calls to US Congressional leaders to urge tough sanctions, implying that he too has been putting his weight behind diplomatic measures for now.

Attention in Washington is focused on the response the Iranian regime will make at its meeting in Geneva on Thursday with the "P5 plus one" group – the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany.

The uranium enrichment plant's existence was confirmed by Iran to the International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday after it became clear that its discovery by western intelligence agencies was about to be made public. Any hope Tehran had of refusing to discuss its nuclear programme during the talks this week has disappeared.

The US said its negotiators would be demanding "full and unfettered access" to the new plant.

The Iranians have promised to allow access to IAEA inspectors, but they will need also to make clear commitments to open up its wider nuclear programme to avoid American insistence on more sanctions.

The views of Russia and China are crucial. In the past they have opposed further sanctions but may now feel obliged to take action.

Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, said unless Iran showed a change of heart attention would turn to "exploring how you broaden and deepen sanctions".

"Sanctions are already in place... but like many sanction regimes they're leaky," she said, in what could be interpreted as criticism of China. Chinese state-owned companies have been repeatedly accused by the US of circumventing sanctions.

Senior Iranian representatives did little to disguise their displeasure at the apparent propaganda coup achieved by the United States, Britain and other western powers in forcing them to reveal the nuclear facility. Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the IAEA, accused Western leaders of being ignorant of international law in their criticism of Iran over the plant. "This approach will have a negative impact on Iran's negotiations with the 5+1 countries," he said


Link : Iran test fires 'long-range' missiles - Telegraph

Link : http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/world/middleeast/29tehran.html?_r=1&hp

 

[applesauce]

lol Iran and their missiles