Tehran missile tests fail to impress

U.S. and Israeli officials Wednesday said Iran’s test firing of missiles capable of hitting the Jewish state and U.S. interests in the region didn’t demonstrate any new capability, and they dismissed the exercise as saber rattling.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Adm. Morteza Saffari told Arabic state television station Al-Alam Arabic that the military exercises were intended as a show of force against any attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The station quoted Brig. Gen. Hoseyn Salami of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps air force as saying, “Our current missile maneuvers are extensive. We have successfully tested our missiles and we have used a wide range of them. … Our missiles are ready to be fired at any time and anywhere.”

The station reported that nine missiles — including Fatah, Zelzal, and Shahab-1, -2 and -3 — were fired in the exercises. The Fatah, Zelzal and Shahab-1 and -2 are short-range missiles. The Shahab-3 can travel up to 930 miles.

Iran claims its longer-range missile can travel up to 1,200 miles, but U.S. officials said they could not confirm that a longer-range missile was tested.

“The Iranian regime only furthers the isolation of the Iranian people from the international community when it engages in this sort of activity,” deputy White House press secretary Gordon Johndroe said from Japan, where President Bush is attending the Group of Eight summit. “They should also refrain from further missile tests if they truly seek to gain the trust of the world.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the 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,” Miss Rice said while traveling in Sofia, Bulgaria.

On Tuesday, Miss Rice and Czech counterpart Karel Schwarzenberg signed a deal allowing the U.S. to base a missile-defense shield in the Czech Republic.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters at the Pentagon that the tests highlight the need for missile defenses in Europe.

“There is a real threat,” he said. “And it seems to me that the test this morning underscores that.”

Mr. Gates said the Iranian missile tests should erase doubts raised by the Russian government that “the Iranians won’t have a longer-range ballistic missile for 10 to 20 years.”

“The fact is, they’ve just tested a missile that has a pretty extended range,” Mr. Gates said.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said the tests demonstrate a need for effective missile defense.

His Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, said the tests highlight the need for direct diplomacy as well as tougher threats of economic sanctions and strong incentives to persuade Tehran to change its behavior.

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