TEHRAN: Iran tested its most advanced missiles Monday to cap two days of war games, raising more international concern and stronger pressure to quickly come clean on the newly revealed nuclear site Tehran was secretly constructing.
State television said the powerful Revolutionary Guards, which controls Iran’s missile program, successfully tested upgraded versions of the medium-range Shahab-3 and Sejil missiles. Both can carry warheads and reach up to 2,000 km, putting Israel, US military bases in the Middle East and parts of Europe within striking distance.
The missile tests were meant to flex Iran’s military might and show readiness for any military threat.
“Iranian missiles are able to target any place that threatens Iran,” said Abdollah Araqi, a top Revolutionary Guards commander, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
Iran conducted three rounds of missile tests in drills that began Sunday, two days after the US and its allies disclosed the country had been secretly developing an underground uranium enrichment facility. The Western powers warned Iran it must open the site to international inspection or face harsher international sanctions.
The White House called the missile tests “provocative” and reiterated demands by President Barack Obama at the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh last week that Iran come clean on its disputed nuclear program.
“They can agree to immediate unfettered access (to the newly disclosed nuclear facility),” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters when asked what Washington wants from the talks. “That would be the least that they could do.”
“There has never been a stronger international consensus to address Iran and its nuclear program than there is right now,” he added.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi said the missile tests had nothing to do with the tension over the site, saying it was part of routine, long-planned military exercises.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he was concerned about the missile tests. He said Iran must immediately resolve issues surrounding its second nuclear enrichment facility with the UN’s nuclear agency.
Russia said it is worried. “Of course it is worrisome, when missile launches happen against the backdrop of unresolved situation concerning Iran’s nuclear program,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.
“I am convinced restraint is needed,” Lavrov added. The agencies did not specify whether he meant restraint by Iran or by the West in response to the tests.
The Sejil-2 missile is Iran’s most advanced two-stage surface-to-surface missile and is powered entirely by solid-fuel while the older Shahab-3 uses a combination of solid and liquid fuel in its most advanced form, which is also known as the Ghadr-1.
Solid fuel is seen as a technological breakthrough for any missile program as solid fuel increases the accuracy of missiles in reaching targets.
Experts say Sejil-2 is more accurate than Shahab missiles and its navigation system is more advanced.
