Iran tests ballistic missile
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran said it has successfully tested a new ballistic missile that can carry multiple warheads and travel up to 1,200 miles, in a show of defiance against the United States.
The Khorramshahr rocket was shown Friday at a military parade in Tehran.
Iranian television showed video yesterday of the test launch from an unknown location, Iran’s Press TV reported.
The missile test came after President Trump and Iranian president Hassan Rouhani traded insults at the United Nations this week.
Trump told world leaders gathered in New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly that the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran was “an embarrassment” and “one of the worst” deals the U.S. had ever made.
In his speech, Rouhani responded by saying it would be “a great pity” if the deal was “destroyed by rogue newcomers to the world of politics.”
Nothing in the nuclear agreement covers the country’s missile program, Tehran has noted, claiming it is solely for defense.
Government spokesman Mohammed Bagher Nobacht repeated that sentiment yesterday, saying the missile was absolutely necessary for selfdefense.
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman called the missile test a “provocation and defiance towards the United States and its allies, including Israel.”
He added that the missile test was “further proof of Iran’s aspiration to become a world power and to threaten not only the Middle Eastern states, but all the countries of the free world.”