Iran has test-launched a missile with a range of up to 2,000km, putting Israel, US bases in the Middle East and parts of Europe within striking distance.
The successful test was announced by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, on Wednesday, as campaigning for the June 12 presidential election officially started.
"... we launched a Sejil-2 missile, which is a two-stage missile and it has reached the intended target," Ahmadinejad said in a speech in the northern city of Semnan, close to the launch site.
Analysts say the range of the surface-to-surface Sejil 2 missile is between 1,200km and 2,000km.
A US defence official confirmed the launch, saying that the missile appeared to be consistent with Tehran's older Ashura models, long known to US intelligence.
Ahmadinejad, whose moderate challengers in the June 12 vote accuse him of isolating Iran with his anti-Western speeches, said the country had the power to send any attacker "to hell".
Presidential candidates
The launch came within hours of Iran's constitutional watchdog approving four leading candidates to stand in the election.
Ahmadinejad will seek re-election alongside moderate challengers Mirhossein Mousavi, Iran's former prime minister, Mehdi Karoubi, the former parliament speaker and Mohsen Rezai, the former head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
The four candidates were approved after being screened for their allegiance to Iran's Islamic government system and "absolute obedience" to the country's most senior authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
More than 450 hopefuls had registered out of which 42 were women. No women passed a test to stand in the election.
Media criticism
Reformists believe a high turnout would give them a better chance to win the vote, but they say state media have not given sufficient coverage of the election to mobilise Iranian voters.
Ahmadinejad's rivals say his trips across Iran ahead of the authorised campaigning period are illegal and should be stopped. The government has refused.
State radio and television have denied being partial.
About 46 million Iranians over 18 years old are eligible to vote in Iran's tenth presidential election since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The three other candidates have said Iran needs to have interaction and a "policy of detente" with the West.
Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005 vowing to share out oil wealth more fairly, but critics blame him for disappointing economic growth and high inflation.
However, his promises of a fairer redistribution of income still resonate with the poor.
Ahmadinejad's only conservative rival, Rezai, has criticised the president's "adventurous" foreign policy and his economic policy, saying Ahmadinejad would "drag the country over a cliff" if re-elected.
And verily for everything that a slave loses there is a substitute, but the one who loses Allah will never find anything to replace Him.” [Related by Ibn al-Qayyim in ad-Dâ' wad-Dawâ Fasl 49]
Well i will like to congrates Iran on his sucessfull missile test. Its good to have such kind of powers of his own for any country. But i will to say something about the relations between Iran & Israel. I had observed that there relations are not going so well with each other. As both are always being against each other instead of working together, relations of these kind led them to suffer a lot.
notice how the above article doesnt make mosavi out to be some huge potential threat or that popular, he is just mentioned as one of the candidates. as i said on another thread, no one was even talking about this guy until after the results came in.
Hey there! Looks like you're enjoying the discussion, but you're not signed up for an account.
When you create an account, we remember exactly what you've read, so you always come right back where you left off. You also get notifications, here and via email, whenever new posts are made. And you can like posts and share your thoughts. Sign Up
Hide
Looks like you're enjoying the discussion, but you're not signed up for an account.
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks