Iran’s New Ballistic Missile Is a Threat to the Entire Free World, Israel Warns
هأرتس: إسرائيل تحذر من أن الصواريخ الإيرانية هي تهديد لكل العالم الحر
Amos Harel Of Haaretz and Reuters September 23/2017
‘Just imagine what would happen if Iran managed to get nuclear weapons,’ Defense Minister Lieberman says after Iran tests new missile that can reach Israel
. Iran’s new ballistic missile – that can reach most parts of the Middle East, including Israel – is a threat to the entire free world, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Saturday, in the first Israeli response to the Iranian test launch.
Iran successfully tested a new ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 km (1,200 miles) which it displayed at a military parade on Friday, state media reported on Saturday.
“The ballistic missile Iran fired today is not just a provocation against the U.S. and its allies, including Israel, and an attempt to test them. It is also more proof of Iran’s desire to turn into a world power and threaten not just nations in the Middle East, but also all the countries in the free world,” Lieberman said.
“Just imagine what would happen if Iran managed to get nuclear weapons. That’s what it’s striving for. We must not let that happen,” he added.
The test-firing of the Khorramshahr missile, which Iran said could carry several warheads, is also likely to raise concerns in Washington.
State broadcaster IRIB carried footage of the missile test without giving its time and location, including video from an on-board camera which it said showed the detachment of the cone that carries multiple warheads.
“You are seeing images of the successful test of the Khorramshahr ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 km, the latest missile of our country,” state television said.
“This is the third Iranian missile with a range of 2,000 km,” it added.
The Khorramshahr missile was first displayed at a military parade on Friday, where President Hassan Rouhani said Iran would strengthen its missile capabilities without seeking any country’s permission.
At the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump said Iran was building its missile capability and accused it of exporting violence to Yemen, Syria and other parts of the Middle East.
He also criticised the 2015 pact that the United States and other world powers struck with Iran under which Tehran agreed to restrict its nuclear programme in return for relief from economic sanctions.
The United States has imposed unilateral sanctions against Iran, saying Tehran’s ballistic missile tests violated a UN resolution that endorsed the nuclear deal and called on Tehran not to undertake activities related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
Amos Harel and Reuters: Iran’s New Ballistic Missile Is a Threat to the Entire Free World, Israel Warns/هأرتس: إسرائيل تحذر من أن الصواريخ الإيرانية هي تهديد لكل العالم الحر
