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
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