Tehran - Iran on Tuesday
test-fired in its central desert a ballistic missile capable of striking Israel
as part of war games designed to show its ability to retaliate if attacked,
media said.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard fired
the medium-range Shahab-3 missile at a mock target in the Kavir Desert on the
second day of its Great Prophet 7 exercise, which is due to end on Wednesday,
Iran's Al-Alam television network reported.
The Shahab-3 has a range of up to
2 000km, which means it is theoretically able to hit Israel, which is about 1
000km away.
Al-Alam said two short-range
missiles, the Shahab-1 and Shahab-2, with ranges of 300 to 500km, were also
launched.
The Fars news agency said
"dozens of short-, medium-, and long-range missiles have been fired from
different parts of Iran at a single target in Kavir".
The ISNA news agency said the
last day of the drill would see Revolutionary Guard "bomber drones"
also used.
Talks
Although the Islamic republic has
test-fired its Shahab missiles before, and frequently holds military
manoeuvres, it says these war games are aimed at sending a message to Israel
and the United States to think twice on their threats of possibly attacking Iran.
The Great Prophet 7 exercise
targeted a replica military base set up in a desert and made to look like a
foreign facility, similar to those the United States has in neighbouring
countries such as Afghanistan.
The launch of the Shahab-3
missile coincided with the day official experts from Iran and world powers were
to hold talks in Istanbul to discuss the West's push to have Tehran scale back
its sensitive nuclear programme.
Israel, which is not part of the
talks, and its ally the United States have both said they reserve the option of
launching military action on Iran if diplomacy and sanctions fail to convince
it to curb its atomic activities.