Iranian missile test (Archives: AP)
Photo: AP
Iran says started manufacturing new anti-aircraft missile
Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad announces Islamic Republic's latest ballistic endeavor: 25-mile missile defense system 'capable of supersonic speed'
Iran has started production of a new ground-to-air missile system, Iranian media reported on Saturday, amid persistent speculation that Israel might attack the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities.
"The range of this defense system (missile) is more than 40km (25 miles) and it is able to pursue and hit the enemy's airplanes and helicopters on a smart basis and at supersonic speed," Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said, without specifying how the missile compared to previous such weapons.
Demands
Islamic republic's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says US deeply hated in Middle East, tells American president 'beautiful' speeches alone will not improve its image in Muslim world
The missile announcement came less than a week before a June 12 presidential election, in which conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is facing a challenge from moderates advocating a detente in Tehran's international relations.
Fars, a semi-official news agency, said production of the Shahin (hawk) missile defense system was one of the "Most important and complex projects" undertaken by Iran's defense industry after the country's 1979 Islamic revolution.
The United States and Israel accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear bombs, a charge Tehran denies, and have not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the row.
Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear power, has repeatedly described Iran's nuclear program as a threat to its existence.
Military experts say Iran rarely reveals enough detail about its new military equipment to determine its efficacy but say the Islamic Republic, despite having much less fire-power than US Forces, could still cause havoc in the Gulf if it was pushed.
