Iran Tests Long-Range Missile

Iran claims to have successfully tested a long-range missile in the Persian Gulf, a day after it tested a medium-range missile, further heightening tensions over the country’s nuclear program.

The test of the missile, which is powerful enough to hit U.S. and Israeli military bases in the region, was part of naval maneuvers in the Persian Gulf on Monday.

“We have test-fired a long-range shore-to-sea missile called Qader [which translates as capable], which managed to successfully destroy predetermined targets in the Gulf,” Deputy Navy Commander Mahmoud Mousavi told the official news agency IRNA on Monday.

It is the second missile to be test fired. On Sunday, the country claimed it had also tested a surface to air missile.

The tests have stoked tensions with the West, where the principle concern is that Iran is close to having an atomic bomb.

The Islamic Republic denies this and last week said that it would stop the flow of oil in the crucial Strait of Hormuz area of the Gulf if further sanctions were taken against the regime.

“No order has been given for the closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” state television quoted navy chief Habibollah Sayyari as saying. “But we are prepared for various scenarios.”