Tehran, July 3 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Tuesday test-fired a number of intermediate range ballistic missiles as part of a large-scale training exercise.
“Dozens of rockets” of various ranges and types were fired, including Shahab-1, 2 and 3 ballistic missiles in the exercise named “Great Prophet 7”, Iranian news agency ISNA reported.
The targets for the missiles were simulated military bases of a potential enemy, located in the deserts in Semnan province in the north of the country.
According to western media reports, Shahab-3 has a range of around 2,000 km that would allow Iran to strike Israel and US bases in the Middle East.
The other missiles Iran test-fired Tuesday were shorter range systems capable of firing from 200-700 km.
The “Great Prophet 7” exercise started Monday and is expected to end Wednesday.
A unit of the Revolutionary Guard, which is an elite unit of the Iranian armed forces and does not come under the direct control of the high command, was formed Monday and has been carrying out a series of command and control exercises.
These would include flights by manned aircraft and UAVs.
The US and many European countries, and Israel, accuse Iran of having a covert nuclear weapons development programme hidden in its civil atomic research and power generation effort.
Iran denies the claim and says its nuclear developments are entirely peaceful.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
pm/vt
