Iran on Friday successfully test-fired a missile with radar-dodging and multi-targeting capabilities in a naval maneuver, state television quoted a senior officer as reporting.

 

"Today, we have successfully test-fired a new missile which can attack several different targets with great accuracy and avoid the detection of radar," Hossein Salami, Air Force Commander of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), was quoted assaying.

 

Salami described the successful test-firing as "a prominent achievement of the country's defense capability".

 

The test-firing was an important part of a military maneuver in the Persian Gulf starting earlier in the day.

 

Over 17,000 soldiers and 1,500 naval vessels of various types would be present in the operations of the one-week war game, during which the Iranian military's readiness to defend the country would be displayed, the IRGC announced Wednesday.

 

The United States and Israel have threatened to launch preemptive assault on Iran's nuclear facilities, accusing Iran of developing nuclear weapons secretly.

 

In response, IRGC Commander-in-Chief Yahya Rahim Safavi said on January 28 that Iran would react with missile counterpunches incase that the country was attacked.

 

"It is worldwide known that Iran has ballistic missiles with a range of 2,000 km...We will never launch initiative attacks on any country, but we will defend our country with all useful means if attacked," Safavi said.

 

Iran's upgraded Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile has a range of 2,000 km, which makes Tehran capable of striking Israel or any other enemy target in the region.

 

(Xinhua News Agency April 1, 2006)