Official: Iran Missile Tests Used 'Old Equipment'

By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jul 11, 10:16 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Iran's missile test this week did not demonstrate any new capabilities, according to a U.S. official familiar with the intelligence, and the test may not have included one of the longer-range missiles Iran claims was among those launched.

Iranian officials claimed the tests Wednesday and Thursday demonstrated a new variant of the Shahab missile that had a range of 1,250 miles. Such a missile would put much of the Middle East in striking distance, including Israel — as close as 650 miles from Iran — as well as Turkey, Pakistan and the Arabian peninsula.

The tests drew immediate criticism from U.S. officials. In Eastern Europe during the launches, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the missile tests underscored the need for a U.S. missile shield in the region.

But an independent national security blog, ArmsControlWonk.com, Thursday analyzed 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 746 miles.

In a post 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.

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Don't some of us find it amusing that the powers that be in Iran (who apparently hate America) and the powers that be in America (who apparently hate Iran) both need to have Iran appear to be a threat to Israel?

It appears to me that these diamterically opposed hatemongers need each other to justify their hate (and their defence budgets) while the rest of us citizens (both in Iran and America) would be better off with regime changes in BOTH nations.

The real threat from Iran is not a Direct attack on the US or Even Israel, It is what they might give to terrorist groups who might then carry out an attack. IMO anyways.

How is a country that there's no proof of there being a current weapons program in, the type of threat you espouse?

With your logic, the old Soviet states are WAY more of a threat than Iran. So is Pakistan, India, and NK.

Could you just TRY to think for yourself, rather than let the mass media give your opinion to you?

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"If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is."

-Ronald Reagan