Iran's missile Iran says it has successfully test launched ballistic missile

Iran's missile Iran says it has successfully test launched ballistic missile

Iran successfully test-launched a ballistic missile with a potential 2,000-km range on Thursday (May 25), state media said, two days after the chief of Israel's armed forces raised the prospect of "action" against Tehran over its nuclear program.

Iran, which has one of the biggest missile programs in the Middle East, says its weapons are capable of reaching the bases of arch-foes Israel and the United States in the region.

State TV broadcast a few seconds of footage of what it said was the launch of an upgraded version of Iran's Khoramshahr 4 ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 km (1,243 miles) and able to carry a 1,500-kg (3,300-pound) warhead.

Despite U.S. and European opposition, the Islamic Republic has said it will further develop its "defensive" missile program.

The state news agency IRNA said the liquid-fuel missile had been named the "Kheibar," a reference to a Jewish castle overrun by Muslim warriors in the early days of Islam.

"The domestically-build Kheibar missile's outstanding features include quick preparation and launch time, which makes it a tactical weapon in addition to a strategic one," it said.

"One of the distinctive features of this missile is that it evades radars and cuts through the enemy's air defences,“ said the Defence Minister, General Mohammad Reza Gharaei Ashtiani in Tehran on Thursday.