Iran fires off ballistic missiles in military maneuver

Iran tested its several kinds of missiles at the start of a large military maneuver on Thursday, including the ballistic Shahab-3 missiles with a range of more than 2,000 km, the state television reported.

"The Shahab missiles carrying cluster warheads has a range of 2,000 kilometers, they were fired from the desert of Qom," a city 120 km south of Tehran, the television reported.

Besides Shahab-3, the Shahab-2, the warhead of which can send 1,400 bomblets at the same time and some other short-range missiles were also tested, said the report.

Earlier on Wednesday, Major General Seyed Yahya Rahim Safavi, Commander-in-Chief of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), said the 10-day military maneuvers dubbed "The Great Prophet 2" would be carried out in the Gulf waters, the Sea of Oman and 14 provinces of the country.

"The foremost goal of the maneuvers is to show Iran's firm determination to defend the country against any possible threats," Safavi said, adding the war games are not a threat to neighboring countries.

The announcement made after the U.S.-led warships staged a two-day maneuver in the Gulf waters aimed at blocking smuggling of nuclear weapons material and arms proliferation.

Source: Xinhua