Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
US claims Iran tested missile
Iran Daily 25 July 1998
London - The United States
claimed it detected a test launch on
Wednesday by Iran of a Shehab-3
missile of North Korean design
with a range of up to 800 miles
(1,300 km), enough to strike Israel,
Saudi Arabia and portions of Russia
and Turkey.
The news could not be confirmed,
and some informed sources in
Tehran late Friday seemed to deny
the test as claimed by the US.
President Bill Clinton said that if
made operational, the missile could
change the "stability dynamics" of
the Middle East. Israeli Defense
Minister Yitzhak Mordechai called
the Iranian missile capability "a
developing threat, a serious threat
in the Middle East".
Eric Arnett of the Stockholm
International Peace Research
Institute said Iran faced two major
military threats to its security,
Reuters reported.
"The chronic threat emanates
from Iraq, the acute threat from the
United States. The probability of
war with Iraq remains higher than
any other war scenario for Iran," he
wrote in the June edition of the
journal Disarmament Diplomacy.
"Iran's post-revolutionary effort to
acquire unconventional weapons
can be seen as a response to Iraq's
programs," he said, adding that
Tehran's import of medium-range
ballistic missiles from North Korea
should be seen in the same light.
He said Iran faced a choice
between a policy of reassurance,
illustrated by its public renunciation
of nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons, coupled with the
acceptance of international inspections,
and one of deterrence, developing
"a potent option for retaliation".
US claims Iran tested missile
