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Iran develops long-range missile

DUBAI: Coinciding with the opening of the West Asia peace conference in Annapolis, Iran announced on Tuesday that it has developed a new rocket with a range of 2,000 km.

“The long-range missile, which is capable of hitting targets as far away as 2,000 km has been designed and developed by the Defence Ministry,” Iranian Defence Minister Mustafa Mohammad Najjar said. Gen. Najjar made the announcement before a large gathering of the Basij — Iran’s volunteer force, which played a key role during Iran’s war with Iraq in the eighties.

Once it is armed with a missile of over 2,000-km range, Iran would have the capability to target Israel and parts of Europe. Iran and its allies in the region have opposed the Annapolis conference which they say is “doomed to failure”. The head of Iran’s Expediency Council, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, has said that Iran cannot be ignored if security in West Asia has to be established. “Security of the strategic Middle East region is the requisite for global security and all know quite well that the key to Middle East security is in the hands of Iran.”

Iran and the Palestinian militant group Hamas are not among the 49 invitees to the Annapolis conference. Iran’s ally Syria is, however, participating in the event.

Arguing that the conference had ulterior motives, the former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Mohsin Rezai, has said that one of the goals of the conference is to drive a rift between Iran and Syria. An article which appeared on Monday on Gen. Rezai’s website, Tabnak said, “Separating Iran and Syria is the first shot of Annapolis [conference].”

Another website, Asri Iran, warned Arab states that in case they allowed the U.S. to use their airspace or bases for attacks against Tehran, they would become legitimate targets for Iranian retaliation. Iran’s supporters in Lebanon’s Amal movement and its Hizbollah ally have also denounced the conclave in Annapolis. The Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament and Amal leader Nabi Berri, has criticised Lebanon’s participation in the conference. He said there was no need to attend the meeting as Israel continued to occupy Lebanon’s Shebba farms, held Lebanese prisoners in its jails.

Iran’s ally in the Palestinian territories, Hamas, has also slammed the conference. At a meeting held to denounce the meeting, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said: “Let the whole world hear us — we will not cede an inch of Palestine and we will never recognise Israel.”

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