Iran successfully tests new missile

timesofearth.com TEHRAN - Iran has successfully test-fired a new missile with enhanced guidance systems to hit ground targets, state media has reported. Ahmad Vahidi, the country's defence minister, announced the launch on Friday, while footage of the event was screened on state television. Vahidi, speaking during Friday prayers in Tehran, the capital, did not say when the launch took place or reveal the precise range of the missile. But he said the device, named Qiyam-1, was of a "new class". "The missile has new technical aspects and has a unique tactical capacity," he said. "Since the surface-to-surface missile has no wings, it has a lot of tactical power, which also reduces the chances of it being intercepted." Vahidi's announcement came a day ahead of the scheduled launch of Iran's first nuclear power station after a 40-year delay. The Russian-built power plant, located in the southern Iranian port city of Bushehr, is due to be launched on Saturday, when engineers are to begin loading uranium-packed fuel rods into the reactor. Russia had agreed in 1995 to build the Bushehr plant on the site of a project begun in the 1970s by Siemens, a German firm, but delays have haunted the bn project amid the standoff over Iran's disputed nuclear enrichment programme. The US has criticised Russia for pushing ahead with the project, saying Iran should prove it is not developing weapons first. But Russia has said the Bushehr plant is monitored by the UN's International Atomic ...
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