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Iran
Test-fires Missiles in Persian Gulf
 (AP) - Iran test-fired nine long- and
medium-range missiles Wednesday during war games that officials said
aimed to show the country can retaliate against any U.S. and Israeli
attack, state television reported. Gen. Hossein Salami, the air force
commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, said the exercise would
"demonstrate our resolve and might against enemies who in recent weeks
have threatened Iran with harsh language," the TV report said.
Wednesday's war games were being conducted at the mouth of the Strait
of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which about 40 percent of the
world's oil passes. Iran has threatened to shut down traffic in the
strait if attacked.
The report showed footage of at least three missiles firing
simultaneously, and said the barrage included a new version of the
Shahab-3 missile, which officials have said has a range of 1,250 miles
and is armed with a 1-ton conventional warhead.
That would put Israel, Turkey, the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan and Pakistan within striking distance.
"Our hands are always on the trigger and our missiles are ready for
launch," the official IRNA news agency quoted Salami as saying
Wednesday.
The report comes less than a day after Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad dismissed fears that Israel and the United States could be
preparing to attack his country, calling the possibility a "funny joke."
"I assure you that there won't be any war in the future," Ahmadinejad
told a news conference Tuesday during a visit to Malaysia for a summit
of developing Muslim nations.
But even as Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials have dismissed the
possibility of attack, Tehran has stepped up its warnings of
retaliation if the Americans — or Israelis — do launch
military action, including threats to hit Israel and U.S. Gulf bases
with missiles and stop oil traffic through the vital Gulf region.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Wednesday's tests "evidence that the missile threat is not an imaginary one."
"Those who say that there is no Iranian missile threat against which we
should build a missile defense system perhaps ought to talk to the
Iranians about their claims," Rice said while traveling in Sofia,
Bulgaria.
A White House spokesman called the tests "completely inconsistent with Iran's obligations to the world."
"The Iranian regime only furthers the isolation of the Iranian people
from the international community when it engages in this sort of
activity," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security
Council.
"They should also refrain from further missile tests if they truly seek
to gain the trust of the world," he added, speaking from Japan where
President Bush is attending the Group of Eight summit.
In late June, Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, who was then the commander of
the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, said any attempt by Iran to seal off the
Strait of Hormuz would be viewed as an act of war. The U.S. 5th Fleet
is based in Bahrain, across the Gulf from Iran.
Israel's military sent warplanes over the eastern Mediterranean for a
large military exercise in June that U.S. officials described as a
possible rehearsal for a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, which the
West fears are aimed at producing atomic weapons.
Iran says its nuclear program is geared only toward generating electricity, not weapons.
The Israeli exercise was widely interpreted as a show of force as well
as a practice on skills needed to execute a long-range strike mission.
Shaul Mofaz, an Israeli Cabinet minister, set off an international
uproar last month by saying in a published interview that Israel would
have "no choice" but to attack Iran if it doesn't halt its nuclear
program. Mofaz is a former military chief and defense minister, and has
been Israel's representative in a strategic dialogue on Iran with U.S.
officials.
On Wednesday, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel "does not desire hostility and conflict with Iran."
"But it is clear that the Iranian nuclear program and the Iranian
ballistic missile program is a matter of grave concern," Regev said.
The Guards and Iran's regular army routinely hold exercises two or three times a year.
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