Iran tests Israel-bound missiles

  • 10/03/2016
Iranian agencies said the missiles tested on Wednesday were stamped with the words "Israel should be wiped from the pages of history" in Hebrew (Reuters)
Iranian agencies said the missiles tested on Wednesday were stamped with the words "Israel should be wiped from the pages of history" in Hebrew (Reuters)

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) test-fired two ballistic missiles it says were designed to be able to hit Israel, defying US criticism of similar tests carried out earlier this week.

State television showed footage of two Qadr missiles being launched from northern Iran on Wednesday which the IRGC said hit targets 1400 kilometres away.

Tests on Tuesday drew a threat of new sanctions from the United States.

"The reason we designed our missiles with a range of 2,000 km is to be able to hit our enemy the Zionist regime from a safe distance," Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh was reported as saying.

The nearest point in Iran is around 1000 km from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

The Obama administration is aware of the latest tests, US officials said.

"Just as with the earlier reported test launches, we will look at these and take the appropriate response, both at the UN and unilaterally as appropriate," said a senior administration official.

Iranian agencies said the missiles tested on Wednesday were stamped with the words "Israel should be wiped from the pages of history" in Hebrew, though the inscription could not be seen on any photographs.

Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon told Israel Radio the tests showed Iran's hostility had not changed since implementing a nuclear deal with world powers in January, despite President Hassan Rouhani's overtures to the West.

The IRGC maintains dozens of short and medium-range ballistic missiles, the largest stock in the Middle East. It says they are solely for defensive use with conventional, non-nuclear warheads.

Tehran has denied US accusations of acting "provocatively", citing the long history of US interventions in the Middle East and its own right to self-defence.

The United States said it would raise Tuesday's tests at the UN Security Council, where resolution 2231 calls on the Islamic Republic not to develop missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Reuters