TEHRAN, Iran – Iran conducted its second major test of a new missile within days on Sunday, firing a high-speed torpedo it said no submarine or warship can escape at a time of increased tensions with the U.S. over its nuclear program.
The tests came during war games that Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have been holding in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea since Friday.
| Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview broadcast Sunday that the United States is committed to pursuing a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis. In an interview with the ITV television channel recorded in Liverpool, England, on Saturday, Rice acknowledged concerns that the standoff between the U.N. Security Council and Iran over its nuclear program could lead to the U.S. taking pre-emptive military action. But she said: “Iran is not Iraq. I know that’s what’s on people’s minds. The circumstances are different.” |
On the maneuvers’ first day, Iran said it successfully tested the Fajr-3 missile, which can avoid radar and hit several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads.
The new torpedo, called the “Hoot,” or “whale,” could raise concerns over Iran’s power in the Gulf, a vital corridor for the world’s oil supplies and where the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet is based. During Iran’s war with Iraq in the 1980s, Iranian ships attacked oil tankers in the Gulf, and Iran and the U.S. military engaged in limited clashes.
Iran’s state television stopped its normal programs to break news of the torpedo test, showing it being launched from a ship into the Gulf waters, then hitting its target, a derelict ship.
Gen. Ali Fadavi, deputy head of the Revolutionary Guards’ navy, said the ships that fire the Iranian-made Hoot had radar-evading technology and that the torpedo – moving at 223 miles per hour – was too fast to elude.
“It has a very powerful warhead designed to hit big submarines. Even if enemy warship sensors identify the missile, no warship can escape from this missile because of its high speed,” Fadavi told state television.
The Hoot’s speed would make it about three or four times faster than a normal torpedo and as fast as the world’s fastest known underwater missile, the Russian-made VA-111 Shkval, developed in 1995. It was not immediately known if the Hoot was based on the Shkval.
The new weapon gives Iran “superiority” against any warship in the region, Fadavi said, in a veiled reference to U.S. vessels in the Gulf. It was not immediately clear whether the torpedo can carry a nuclear warhead.
Cmdr. Jeff Breslau, spokesman for the U.S. 5th Fleet based on the tiny Arab island nation of Bahrain in the Gulf, said no special measures were taken in reaction to the Iranian war games, even after the latest missile test.
“In general terms, no matter where we operate in the world, we’re aware of other capabilities that exist and of other countries that aren’t as friendly to the U.S., and we pay attention to those capabilities,” he said.
The U.S. and Iranian navies have had brush-ups during the past – during the “Tanker War,” when U.S. warships moved into the Gulf to guard oil tankers.
In 1988, the frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts was badly damaged by an Iranian mine. In response, the U.S. Navy launched its largest engagement of surface warships since World War II. Two Iranian ships were destroyed, and an American helicopter was shot down, killing the two pilots.
Iran is now trying to show its strength amid worries of U.S. military action over its nuclear program, which Washington says aims to produce nuclear weapons. Iran denies the accusation, saying it intends only to generate electricity.
The U.N. Security Council has demanded Iran give up uranium enrichment, a crucial part of the nuclear process. Washington is pressing for sanctions if Tehran continues its refusal to do so, though U.S. officials have not ruled out military action as an eventual option, insisting they will not allow Iran to gain a nuclear arsenal.
Iran’s hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has warned that the United States will “suffer” if it takes action against its nuclear program.
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