Iran launches nine missles; Claim they can hit Israel and US military bases

[kev-o]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...d=rss.business

In other news, the US has been declared the biggest threat to "world peace"
by a majority of TWC members.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=172057

[MyNameIsGreat]

But teh USA is teh evilz mate!!!1

[Joker85]

Yep Iranian missiles are no threat. There is no possible reason we would want to create some kind of... I don't know... missile defense system?

Nope, all about trying to take over Russia. The Iranians have no missiles. That's just American propaganda.

[Oglethorpe1983]

Dont worry people... this is all just a ploy by the evil Bush administration and the republicans who are allied with the Jews to take over the world and who make up stories so that innocent peace loving nations like Iran are forced to resort to tactics like terrorism to survive. If Bush would just die and the United States economy would collaspe and we would stop using oil then the entire world would enter a golden age of peace where we would all sing and dance in circles with smiling woodland creatures and polar bears saved from extinction thanks to Al Gore and the reversal of Global warming....

Oh wait that was the liberal response to this issue.... Now here is the rational response.

Iran is a serious threat to not only Israel but the entire western world....this incident should be a wake up call to anyone who thinks its okay for Iran to become a nuclear power.

[kev-o]

Not only that but they were tested off the Strait of Hormuz, a major route for oil tankers to come and go. Its already speculated that the price of oil from the region is gonna bump up a notch.

EDIT:

For another perspective

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7498712.stm

[roy34543]

The mossad has found nuclear missiles i expect...

[ozz]

The mossad has found nuclear missiles i expect...

yep, just like the WMD's in Iraq

[kev-o]

@ Roy

Haven't heard anything about that, but the ICBMs that were tested have a large range and can strike Israel and US bases in Afganistan.

[Holger Danske]

@ Roy

Haven't heard anything about that, but the ICBMs that were tested have a large range and can strike Israel and US bases in Afganistan.

They aren't ICBMs...

@Caelius

Nicely spotted, haha!

[christof139]

Range of the new missile is supposed to be about 1,250 miles.

Chris

[André Masséna]

Finally the Zionist pigs will get what's coming to them! An open invitation to destroy the state of Iran. Whipe them off the map....







bet you didn't see that one coming?

[ComnenusTheOne]

They "claim" they can hit american targets? Why cant they just do it??? Enough with the threats. Do it.

[persianfan247]

They "claim" they can hit american targets? Why cant they just do it??? Enough with the threats. Do it.

They haven't said they would attack but retaliate to any attacks on them

[ComnenusTheOne]

They haven't said they would attack but retaliate to any attacks on them

Well someone gotta make step one. For how long people must tolerate the Americans? Someone gotta step up.

[Yorkshireman]

Well someone gotta make step one. For how long people must tolerate the Americans? Someone gotta step up.

Good idea if you want to get blown of the face of the earth.

[Pontifex Maximus]

They "claim" they can hit american targets? Why cant they just do it??? Enough with the threats. Do it.

They won't.

The Americans have a shiny red launch button just like they do, except ours launches more and we have actually used nukes in wartime.

[HorseArcher]

The Americans have a shiny red launch button just like they do, except ours launches more and we have actually used nukes in wartime.

Right. It is great the nuke other countries, right?

The fact of the matter is this: If Israel feels for their safety then they have the right to protect themselves. Israel was conducting a military exercise if Iran attack. Israel isn't the one waving their sabre's around calling for the destruction of another country.

If Israel is entitled to conduct a military exercise to prepare of being attacked, is Iran entitled to do the same - in case being attacked, or is that just not fair?

[Pontifex Maximus]

Right. It is great the nuke other countries, right?

Wouldn't know. Hasn't happened in my lifetime. Or my father's.

[mrmouth]

If Israel is entitled to conduct a military exercise to prepare of being attacked, is Iran entitled to do the same - in case being attacked, or is that just not fair?

Nobody in their right mind would care about Iran holding military exercises or testing weapons systems if they were run by more stable individuals. The people who do run the country subscribe to an ideology in which they would sacrifice Iran for the betterment of Islam as a whole. That idea of betterment is such that Islam should be essentially forced on non believers, and -perceived- wrongs to Muslims should be met with violent reprisal.

Given that, and their history of sticking their noses into situations in a covert manner which have left hundreds of thousands dead , leads to anyone with their head screwed on tightly to be wary of them. That goes for countries in the West, and their own neighbors.

Oh yeah, they also have a piss poor history of being able to reign in certain portions of their military and intelligence service. People in those services have had just a touch more religious fervor than Tehran would have liked, and innocent people on multiple continents are dead because of that.

[Caelius]

Looks like one of the Shahab-3s was a dud. It didn't fire so the IRGC edited the photos and video of the event to make it look like it did.



Link

Iran doctored missile test-firing photo: defence analyst

LONDON (AFP) - A defence analyst said on Thursday that Iran had apparently doctored photographs of missile test-firings and exaggerated the capabilities of the weapons.

Iran on Wednesday test-fired nine missiles -- including a Shahab-3 it said was capable of reaching Israel -- angering the United States amid fears that the standoff over the Islamic republic's contested nuclear drive could lead to war.

Photographs published on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards website showed four missiles taking off from a desert launchpad.

But one of the missiles had apparently been added to the photograph using elements from the smoke trail and dust clouds from two of the other missiles.

After being shown the photograph by AFP, Mark Fitzpatrick of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said: "It very much does appear that Iran doctored the photo to cover up what apparently was a misfiring of one of the missiles.

"The whole purpose of this testing was to send a signal so Iran both exaggerated the capabilities of the missile in their prose and apparently doctored the photos as well."

In Washington, a US intelligence official also urged caution about information released by Iran.

"While I cannot comment one way or the other on these particular photos, it would be wrong to assume that the US intelligence community accepts at face value what the Iranians disclose about their missile tests," the official said.

The state-run Iranian channel Al-Alam said the missiles test-fired by the Revolutionary Guards included a Shahab-3 with a one-tonne conventional warhead and a range of 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles).

But Fitzpatrick, a former US State Department official, said: "In terms of capability, they claimed the Shahab-3 could travel 2,000 kilometres carrying a one-tonne warhead. This is very unlikely.

"The Shahab-3 normally has a range of 1,300 kilometres and the range can be extended to 2,000 kilometres but it would require a much lighter warhead.

"This is typical of Iran to exaggerate the accomplishments of the missiles and its nuclear programme."

Several experts on photography agreed that the photograph had been manipulated.

"It's a doctored image," said Gerard Issert, a technician at Granon, one of the largest photo laboratories in Paris.

"Although the missiles weren't all equidistant from the camera, they're the same size in the picture," Issert told AFP in the southern French city of Arles.

A defiant Iran test-fired more missiles on Thursday, as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Tehran that Washington had beefed up its security presence in the Gulf and would not hesitate to defend Israel and other allies in the region.

The United States believes Iran is covertly developing nuclear weapons, a claim denied by the Islamic republic which insists the purpose of its programme is energy.