Iran missile tests
December 30, 2011
Iran has said it is set to begin tests of long-range missiles in the Persian Gulf on Saturday.
"Shorter and longer-range, ground-to-sea, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles will be tested on Saturday," navy deputy commander Admiral Mahmoud Moussavi told the semi-official Fars news agency.
Moussavi said the tests will be the main and final phase in preparing the Iranian navy for confronting the enemy in a war-like situation.
They will take place as part of Iranian navy maneuvers currently under way in the Persian Gulf.
Exchange of threats
The announcement seems likely to increase tensions as Iran and the United States face off over an Iranian threat to close the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, a vital oil shipping route.
Iran has threatened to close the strait in response to planned Western sanctions on Iranian oil over Tehran's nuclear program.
On Tuesday, Iranian Vice President Mohammed-Reza Rahimi said "not a drop of oil" would pass through Hormuz if the sanctions were imposed.
The US Navy has responded by saying it will not accept any disruption by Iran of the free flow of goods through Hormuz.
Around 40 per cent of the world's tanker-borne crude passes through the strait.
US military presence
Neither Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nor the ministries of defence and foreign affairs have so far commented on the issue.
The US Fifth Fleet has more than 20 warships, including aircraft carriers, and 16,000 soldiers stationed in the region.
Washington has expressed concern about Iran's missiles, of which one, the Sajjil-2, has a range of up to 2,400 km (1,491 miles).
Western countries are planning new sanctions on Tehran amid fears that Iran's purportedly civil nuclear program could be a cover for building atomic weapons.
Tehran has always denied the charges.
Author: Timothy Jones (Reuters, AFP, dpa)
Editor: Nicole Goebel