TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday his country test fired a new advanced missile capable of reaching Israel and US bases in the Middle East.

Washington has criticized Iran’s missile development and said such launches stoke instability in the Middle East.

The solid-fuel Sajjil-2 surface-to-surface missile tested has a range of about 1,200 miles (approximately 2,000 km), far enough to strike at southeastern Europe. It is a new version of the Sajjil missile, which Iran said it had successfully tested late last year with a similar range. Many analysts said the launch of the Sajjil was significant because solid-fuel missiles are more accurate than liquid-fuel missiles of similar range, such as Iran’s Shahab-3.

“Defense Minister (Mostafa Mohammad Najjar) has informed me that the Sajjil-2 missile, which has very advanced technology, was launched from Semnan and it landed precisely on the target,” state radio quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. He spoke during a visit to the city of Semnan, 125 miles east of the capital Tehran, where Iran’s space program is centered.

Ahmadinejad is running for re-election in a June 12 vote. Iran’s nuclear and missile programs have alarmed Israel.

The country’s new Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed Obama to step up pressure on Tehran when the two met in Washington on Monday. Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said yesterday Iran’s new missile test should raise alarm bells in Europe.

“In terms of strategic importance, this new missile test doesn’t change anything for us since the Iranians already tested a missile with a range of 1,500 km, but it should worry the Europeans,” Ayalon told public radio.

“The Iranians are also trying to develop a ballistic missile with a range of 10,000 km that could reach the coast of the United States,” he said.

Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for Israel’s elimination, and the Jewish state has not ruled out a military strike to deal with the Iranian nuclear threat.

After he met Netanyahu, Obama declared a readiness to seek deeper international sanctions against Iran if it shunned US attempts to open negotiations on its nuclear program.

The American president said he expected a positive response to his outreach for opening a dialogue with Iran by the end of the year. So far, the Obama administration has received a mixed response from Ahmadinejad.

Most Western analysts believe Iran does not yet have the technology to produce nuclear weapons, including warheads for long-range missiles.