Missiles

Iran is now issuing direct threats at Israel and the Western powers. This is a story I have been following through my blogs over the last months. It is current and frightening. Iran test-fired nine long- and medium-range missiles Wednesday that officials said aimed to show the country can retaliate against any U.S. and Israeli attack.

The missile tests come immediately after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the possibility that the U.S. and Israel are possibly planning an attack on his country a "funny joke." Wednesday's missile launches took place in the Strait of Hormuz, a key strategic waterway which half of the world's oil goes through. Iran also threatened to eliminate all sea traffic in the strait if they were attacked.

Israel's military sent warplanes over the eastern Mediterranean for a large military exercise in June that U.S. officials described as a possible rehearsal for a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, which the West fears are aimed at producing atomic weapons.

Iran says its nuclear program is geared only toward generating electricity, not weapons.

Al Alam TV showed three of nine long- range missiles being fired. Officials said the exercise was a result of what it considered threats from the U.S. and Israel. The barrage included a new version of the Shahab-3 missile, which are said to have a 1,250 miles range and is armed with a 1-ton conventional warhead. That would put Israel within striking distance, and Iran says they are targeting Tel Aviv.

The air force commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Hossein Salami, said the exercise "demonstrate(s) our resolve and might against enemies who in recent weeks have threatened Iran with harsh language".

"Our hands are always on the trigger and our missiles are ready for launch," the Iranian, IRNA news agency quoted Salami as saying on Wednesday.

This story comes less than a day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed fears that Israel and the United States could be preparing to attack his country, calling that possibility a "funny joke."

"I assure you that there won't be any war in the future," Ahmadinejad told journalists on Tuesday.

But even as Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials have dismissed the possibility of attack, Tehran has stepped up its warnings of retaliation if the Americans — or Israelis — do launch any military action, including threats to hit Israel and U.S. Gulf bases with missiles and stop oil traffic through the vital Gulf region.

The U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that Wednesday's tests by Iran, provide "evidence that the missile threat is not an imaginary one. Those who say that there is no Iranian missile threat against which we should build a missile defense system perhaps ought to talk to the Iranians about their claims," she said while in Sofia, Bulgaria.

"The Iranian regime only furthers the isolation of the Iranian people from the international community when it engages in this sort of activity," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security Council.

"They should also refrain from further missile tests if they truly seek to gain the trust of the world," he added, speaking from Japan where President Bush is attending the Group of Eight summit.

In late June, Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, who was then the commander of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, said any attempt by Iran to seal off the Strait of Hormuz would be viewed as an act of war. The U.S. 5th Fleet is based in Bahrain, across the Gulf from Iran.

The Israeli exercise with more than 100 of its jet fighters and support aircraft, some 900 miles West out over the Mediterranean a couple of weeks back was widely interpreted as a show of force as well as a practice on skills needed to execute a long-range strike mission against a potential enemy, assumed to be Iran about that distance in the opposite direction.

Shaul Mofaz, an Israeli Cabinet minister, set off an international uproar last month by saying in a published interview that Israel would have "no choice" but to attack Iran if it doesn't halt its nuclear program. Mofaz has served Israel as a military chief and defense minister, and has been his country’s representative in strategic dialogue on Iran with U.S. officials.

On Wednesday, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev reiterated that Israel "does not desire hostility and conflict with Iran."

"But it is clear that the Iranian nuclear program and the Iranian ballistic missile program is a matter of grave concern," Regev said.