CAIRO — With U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf and the rhetoric between Iran and Israel growing more heated, Tehran on Wednesday test-fired nine missiles, including at least one capable of striking Israel and other American allies and interests in the Middle East.
The medium- and long-range missiles were launched during military exercises staged by Iran's Revolutionary Guard near the strategic oil shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz. State television quoted a top military leader, Gen. Hossein Salami, as saying the war games in the Persian Gulf would "demonstrate our resolve and might against enemies who in recent weeks have threatened Iran with harsh language."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday, July 11, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 54 words Type of Material: Correction
Iran missile test: A photo from Iran's Revolutionary Guard that accompanied an article in Thursday's Section A about the country's test of medium- and long-range missiles apparently was digitally altered to show four missiles successfully launching. It later became clear that the original photo showed only three rockets. News coverage on A1 and A4.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was traveling in Bulgaria, said the launches constituted "evidence that the missile threat is not an imaginary one."
The tests were the latest drama in the long standoff over Iran's uranium enrichment program, which Tehran says will produce power for civilian use but the West and Israel allege is aimed at building a bomb.
The missiles streaked into the desert sky as U.S. and British ships were on military maneuvers in the gulf and just days after disclosures that Israel had conducted long-range military exercises last month widely seen as a rehearsal for a possible strike against Iran.
Iranian TV showed three simultaneous launches, one of a new version of the Shahab-3 missile, which Tehran says carries a 1-ton conventional warhead and can travel 1,250 miles, well within the range of U.S. troops in Iraq, the Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain and American allies Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Iran said this week that it would retaliate against U.S. and Israeli interests in the region if its nuclear facilities were attacked.
"Our hands are always on the trigger and our missiles are ready for launch," Salami was quoted as saying Wednesday by the official IRNA news agency. Iranian news media reported the missiles were fired from an undisclosed location in the desert.
The launches came a day after seemingly contradictory statements from top Iranian officials. A spokesman for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader, said Tel Aviv and the U.S. fleet in the gulf would "burst into flames" if Tehran were attacked. But President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, known for his strident rhetoric, appeared to soften the atmosphere by saying that the prospect of Israel and the U.S. striking Iran was a "funny joke" and that there "won't be any war."
