Last update - 00:00 27/08/2006
Iran test-fires new submarine-to-surface missile
By The Associated Press
Iran tested a new submarine-fired anti-ship missile during war games Sunday, showing off a new weapon and raising worries it could disrupt vital oil tanker traffic in the Gulf amid its standoff with the West over its nuclear activities.
The new missile, called the Thaqeb - Farsi for Saturn - is Iran's first missile that is fired from underwater but flies above the surface to hit its target, distinguishing it from a torpedo.
The test firing took place during large-scale military exercises that Iran has been holding since Aug. 19. A brief video showed the Thaqeb exiting the water and hitting a target less than a mile away.
It was the latest in a series of new naval weapons Iran has unveiled this year to tout what it calls its new technological prowess in arms production. In April, the military tested a super-speed torpedo and a high-speed missile boat in the Gulf.
The muscle-flexing comes as Iran remains defiant just five days before a deadline imposed by the UN Security Council for Tehran to suspend the enrichment of uranium.
Iran's new weapons test underlines a card it can play in the nuclear standoff with the West - the ability to disrupt oil tanker shipments in the Gulf, through which about two-fifths of the world's oil supplies pass.
While the Thaqeb showed some technological advances by Iran, its main importance seemed to be that it gives the country another means for targeting ships, along with the arsenal of torpedos and other anti-ship missiles it already has.
The Iranian naval commander, Gen. Sajjad Kouchaki, said the Thaqeb could be fired from any vessel, not just submarines. He called it a "long-range" missile but did not specify how far it could fly, and it did not appear capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
He also said the Thaqeb could escape enemy radar - a claim Iran made about a number of weapons it unveiled during miliitary maneuvers in April.
Some outside experts have questioned whether the weapons, tested against Iranian radar, would really be undetectable to more advanced U.S. radar.
During the April maneuvers, Iran test-fired a new torpedo - the "Hoot," Farsi for "whale" - which is capable of moving at some 223 mph, up to four times faster than a normal torpedo. It also unveiled a new land-to-sea missile, the Kowsar, and a high-speed missile boat that skims above the water and is undetectable by radar.
Iran is known to have several submarines. It bought at least two diesel subs from Russia in the 1990s and has produced an unknown number of locally made ones. Last year, it announced it was building a new class of sub called the Ghadir, which it said was a stealth craft and could fire missiles and torpedoes. Nothing more is known about the craft.
Iran says the weaponry is intended to defend itself against the possibility of a U.S. attack.