TEHRAN, Aug 11: Iran on Wednesday tested an upgraded version of its ballistic missile (Shahab-3), two weeks after Israel tested its Arrow II anti-missile missile, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"The defence ministry announced that the latest version of the Shahab-3 was tested today," IRNA said. "This experiment on the ground was aimed at evaluating modifications that were recently made to the missile on the basis of research results," it said.
The missile is considered the mainstay of Iran's military technology and portrayed as purely defensive and dissuasive, but specifically as a weapon against Israel. In the July 28 test of Israel's Arrow II missile, the Jewish state made it clear the improved anti-missile system was aimed squarely at fending off any attack by Iran.
Iranian Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani had said on Saturday that the test of the Shahab-3 was imminent, adding that the improvements to the missile "not only concern its range, but other specifications as well."
Tehran fears Israel could strike its controversial nuclear programme, which Washington suspects is being used to covertly develop weapons. "The Israelis are trying hard to improve the capacity of their missiles, and we are also trying to improve the Shahab-3 in a short time," Mr Shamkhani said, denying that the Islamic republic was working on a more advanced Shahab-4.
WON'T ABANDON N-PLAN: Coinciding with the test, Iran declared on Wednesday that threats to send its nuclear case to the UN Security Council would not make it drop its quest for peaceful nuclear technology.
The statement by President Mohammad Khatami came after US officials expressed growing confidence in recent days that international resolve was hardening to deal with Iran's nuclear programme and report it to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
Iran has angered Britain, Germany and France - who have sought to broker a diplomatic solution to Tehran's nuclear case - by re-starting parts of its nuclear programme and refusing to abandon efforts to master uranium enrichment.
Washington says Iran wants to enrich uranium to bomb-grade levels. Tehran says it only wants to make low-grade enriched uranium for use in nuclear power reactors. "We don't want our case to be sent to the United Nations.
We hope to resolve the issue through justifications and explanations," Khatami told reporters. "But if anyone wants to deprive us of our right (to peaceful nuclear technology) we and our nation would be ready to pay the price," he added.
PARLIAMENT: On Wednesday, 238 of parliament's 290 members signed a draft bill which would oblige the government to continue its pursuit of peaceful nuclear technology.
Some lawmakers have threatened to force the government by law to resume uranium enrichment, a move which would escalate Western concerns about Iran's atomic ambitions.
Iran's claim that it has no intention of building nuclear arms was given a boost on Tuesday by reports that UN nuclear inspectors had traced highly enriched uranium particles found in Iran to equipment bought from Pakistan.
This supports Iran's stance that the uranium samples, including some of bomb-grade level, were caused by contamination. "We haven't done any enrichment in Iran. The parts were contaminated," Khatami said.
Khatami said that if Iran's case was sent to the Security Council, Tehran would lobby the five permanent members - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia - hard to avoid any measures being adopted against Iran. -AFP/Reuters
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