Region | Iran
Iran missile tests used 'old equipment' says US official
Iran's missile test this week demonstrated no new capabilities, according to a US official familiar with the intelligence, and the test may not have included one of the longer-range missiles that Iran said was among those launched.
- AP
- Published: 08:54 July 12, 2008
- Image Credit: AP
- This photograph was apparently altered to add a fourth missile lifting off from a desert range, according to defense analyst Mark Fitzpatrick, director of the Non-Proliferation Programme for the London-based Institute For Strategic Studies.
Washington: Iran's missile test this week demonstrated no new capabilities, according to a US official familiar with the intelligence, and the test may not have included one of the longer-range missiles that Iran said was among those launched.
Iranian officials said the tests on Wednesday and Thursday demonstrated a new variant of the Shahab missile with a range of 2,012 kilometres.
Such a missile would put much of the Middle East in striking distance, including Israel, as well as Turkey, Pakistan and the Arabian peninsula.
The tests drew immediate criticism from US officials. In Eastern Europe when the launches occurred, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the missile tests underscored the need for a US defensive missile system in the region.
But an independent national security blog, ArmsControlWonk.com, analysed on Thursday video footage of the launch posted by the Iranian government.
It determined the missiles were identical to a version of the Shahab missile first demonstrated in Iran in 1998 that has a known range of 1,200 km.
In a posting called "Same old Boring Shahab 3," it compared the diameter of the missile to its length and found it to be identical to the 1998 version.
Unless the Iranians have built a larger missile with the same length to width ratio, dramatically improved the thrust of the rocket or decreased its internal structural mass, the missile could not achieve the range Iran claimed it did. Otherwise, it is the same knockoff of North Korea's Nodong-1, the blog determined.
Iran falsely claimed in February that it launched a two-stage missile that later analysis determined to be a one-stage Shahab missile, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Washington arms control advocacy think tank.
The US official who spoke about the tests said they involved eight or nine missiles, most fired on Wednesday and one more early Thursday, several hours later.
It was a mix of missiles ranging from medium-range to close-range battlefield rockets. The official said the models had not yet been decisively determined by US intelligence.
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the test is being taken seriously and was an attempt to destabilise the region.
Tehran staged the missile tests as a show of strength in response to a recent Israeli military exercise.
An Iranian government photograph showing a cluster of missile launches apparently was altered to add a fourth missile lifting off from a desert range.
"There's no doubt the photo was doctored," said Mark Fitzpatrick, director of the Non-Proliferation Programme for the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
US officials have also raised questions about the video footage, saying it looks remarkably similar to previous tests.
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