More on Iranian missiles

Notice how silent the world media has been about Iran in recent weeks: now Iran will, no doubt be portrayed as the aggressor which is threatening the world.

The rheteric is eerily similar to the lead-up to the Iraq war.

Iran test fires missile near Hormuz, oil supply fears of US bank sanctions

IRAN said last night it tested a new medium-range missile during war games near the Straits of Hormuz, hours after US President Barack Obama signed a law tightening sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program.

the Australian,

2 January, 2011

A military spokesman also announced that Iranian ships and submarines would today carry out manoeuvres designed to allow them to shut the strategic channel.

Iran  also claimed its scientists had produced the nation's first nuclear fuel rod, a feat of engineering doubted by the West but it fears that such enrichment could be used for nuclear weapons.

The show of military muscle underlined a threat by Iran to shut the narrow strait - through which 20 per cent of the world's passes - if more Western sanctions were applied over its nuclear program.

The potential for that scenario, and possible open confrontation with US warships that patrol the Gulf, was given impetus when Mr Obama on Saturday signed tough new sanctions targeting Iran's central bank and financial sector.

Under the measures, foreign firms will have to choose between doing business with the Islamic republic or the economically mighty US. The aim is to put the squeeze on Iran's crucial oil revenues, most of which are processed by the central bank.

Iran has said such sanctions, and a possible oil embargo being mulled by the EU, could push it to close the Strait of Hormuz. Its war games have underlined the threat.

"From tomorrow morning , a vast majority of our naval units - surface and underwater, and aerial - will implement a new tactical formation, designed to make the passage of any vessel through the Strait of Hormuz impossible if the Islamic Republic of Iran's navy so chooses," navy spokesman Mahmoud Mousavi was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

On Sunday, "for the first time, an anti-radar medium-range missile was successfully fired during the massive naval drills," Commodore Mousavi said.

"This medium-range surface-to-air missile is equipped with the latest technology to combat radar-evading targets and intelligent systems which try to disrupt missile navigation," he said.

Further details on the missile were not given. It was not immediately known whether it was fired from a ship or from land, nor what distance it is able to fly.

Oil market analysts have been watching developments near the Strait of Hormuz closely.

Oil prices climbed briefly after Iran's vice-president, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, vowed on Tuesday that "not a drop of oil will pass through the Strait of Hormuz" if more sanctions were imposed.

But they fell back again as analysts said such a closure would devastate Iran's own economy, and could be viewed as an act of war provoking military action by the US and its Gulf allies.

Iran, though, has kept the threat on the table.

The deputy commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, told ISNA last night that "we will carry out whatever it takes to implement our defensive strategies in line with Iran's defensive doctrine," regarding the strait.

"If the vital interests of our country are endangered by the enemy, we will respond to any threat with a many-pronged threat of our own," Brigadier General Salami said.

The US and many Western countries believe Iran is trying to make atomic weapons under the cover of its civilian nuclear program. Tehran denies this is so.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran - foes since Islamist students stormed the US embassy in Iran in 1979, taking 52 Americans hostage - entered a dangerous new phase in October, when US officials said the Revolutionary Guards had a hand in a thwarted plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington.