http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070922/wl_mideast_afp/iranuspoliticsmilitary_070922115732
Iran shows off new missile, taunts Israel
by Stuart Williams
Sat Sep 22, 8:06 AM ET
Iran on Saturday showed off a longer-range missile in public for the first time and proclaimed a string of anti-Israel slogans, in a military parade held amid warnings of conflict with the West.
The missile -- labelled Ghadr-1 (Power) -- was said to be in development by Western experts, but its appearance at the annual military parade to mark the start of Iran's 1980-1988 war with Iraq was its first public showing.
The official announcer at the parade told reporters that the weapon had a range of 1,800 kilometres (1,100 miles), sufficient to put US bases in the Middle East and Iran's arch enemy Israel within reach.
"The Iranian nation is ready to bring any oppressive power to its knees," read a slogan from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei inscribed on a massive board on a truck.
The head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Jaafari, warned bluntly: "My message to the enemy is that they will regret it (an attack). Do not do it."
The Ghadr missile, which has a "baby bottle" style nose for extra aerodynamic efficiency, is seen as an improved version of Iran's existing longer-range Shahab series, which was also paraded.
Officials have said in the past that the Shahab-3 could reach 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles), but the announcer said it had a 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) range.
The parade was marked by a litany of slogans calling for "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." Western military attaches, apparently warned of this in advance, boycotted the rally for the second year running.
"The Western attaches did not come. It was because of the slogans about Israel and the United States," said one foreign representative who declined to be named.
"Israel should be eliminated" and "No Iranian Muslim, no Muslim recognises Israel," were among the slogans borne on the back of military vehicles, quoting the words of Iran's revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
"Israel has to be wiped off the map," read another Khomeini quote which aroused worldwide controversy when it was repeated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005.
The parade came amid growing tensions over Iran's nuclear programme, which the United States alleges is cover for a nuclear weapons drive but which Tehran insists is aimed solely at producing electricity.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has warned that the world should brace for war against Tehran if it keeps defying the UN Security Council by pressing on with sensitive nuclear work.
Iran's military, especially its air force, has been hit by the US trade embargo, and General Jaafari admitted that the Islamic republic would need to outsmart its enemies using means other than technology.
"Their material capabilities are better than us, everyone knows it and we admit it. We are responding to technology not with technology but with special methods and tactics," he told reporters.
Officials said that only weapons built by Iran were shown at the parade, in a bid to emphasise the country's self-sufficiency in military technology.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meanwhile said in a speech that warnings of military action and further UN sanctions would have no effect on Tehran's nuclear drive.
"Those who think that with outmoded instruments like psychological warfare and economic sanctions they can stop Iran's march towards progress are making a grave mistake," Ahmadinejad said.
The full panoply of Iran's armed forces were on display, with thousands of goose-stepping members of the regular army and the Revolutionary Guards saluting Ahmadinejad and top military leaders in a march-past.
The United States and its ally Israel have never ruled out using military action against Iran for its defiance in the nuclear standoff.
Iran has said it will never initiate an attack, but has warned of striking US bases in the Arabian peninsula, Iraq and Afghanistan -- as well as Israel itself -- as a response to any aggression.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/23/wiran123.xml
Iran promises missiles will fly if US attacks
By Tim Shipman in Washington
Last Updated: 1:00am BST 23/09/2007
Iran has threatened to retaliate with missile attacks if Western forces launch raids against the Islamic state's nuclear programme — putting on a defiant show of military force to back up the message.
The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, addressed a military parade in Teheran and mocked threats from the United States, while the head of the Revolutionary Guards said Iran would "pull the trigger" if attacked.
Their bellicose intervention came as officials in Washington warned that time was running out for the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, to "get a result" from diplomacy or hand the initiative to White House hawks who want military action.
Mr Ahmadinejad spoke out as he led a parade to mark Iran's war with Iraq, which included a flypast by three Saegheh jet fighters and armoured vehicles, one of which bore the slogan "Death to America".
In a message directed at Western diplomats, he told the crowds: "Those who think that by using such decayed tools as psychological warfare and economic sanctions, they can stop the Iranian nation's progress are making a mistake."
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The parade also featured medium-range ballistic missiles which are capable of hitting Israel or US bases in Iraq and the wider Gulf region.
Asked how Iran would respond if any country allowed its territory to be used as a base for an attack, Mohammad Ali Jafari, the head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, said: "You have seen the -missiles. Just pull the trigger and shoot."
He added: "Our message to the enemies is: Do not do it. They will regret it, as they are regretting it in Iraq."
Mr Ahmadinejad today arrives in New York for a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly where the US, Britain, France and Germany are drawing up plans for new sanctions against Iran.
Diplomats are conscious that firm action is needed this week to bolster the position of Miss Rice, who wants to show that diplomacy can isolate Iran and constrain Teheran's weapons programmes.
One official in Washington said: "Condi really needs to get a result to show other members of the administration that it's working."
He said that some officials believe the vice-president, Dick Cheney, has given her "just enough rope to hang herself" by pursuing the diplomatic route.
A state department source who wants the diplomacy to succeed, said that administration hawks had closely studied the international fallout from Israel's clandestine raid on Syria the week before — which US officials say was targeted at nuclear materials sold by North Korea — as a guide to how military action against Iran would be received.
"Their attitude is: where was the fuss? Some of them think they would get away with it in Iran," the source said.
UN Security Council members Russia and China have refused to back tougher action on Iran, so the Bush administration is assembling a diplomatic "coalition of the willing" — a phrase widely use before the war in Iraq — to set up US and European sanctions against the Iranian regime. These would punish banks and companies that deal with Iran.
A Western diplomat said: "The Americans are hugely frustrated that they can't get any more from the Russians and Chinese."
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