Missile test a blow to ties with Iran: US

A senior American official said Washington was following up on evidences that Iran probably built the missile based on the North Korean model, and did not just buy it from that country and painted with Iranian colours as believed earlier.

“Iran has not chosen to buy and deploy a fleet of Nodongs from North Korea, which it could do, much as Pakistan did when it bought a Nodong, painted it green, called it the Ghauri and tested it,” the official said.

Expressing concern at the development, Clinton said, “if they (Iranians) were to develop an intermediate range missile,it could change the regional stability in the Middle East.” State department spokesman James Rubin said: “Clearly this kind of test is bad news.”

In Israel, defence minister Yitzhak Mordechai described the missile test as a “grave threat.” “The Israeli army will have to obtain the human and financial resources necessary to defend our country,” he said on Israeli public radio.

An American official, familiar with the test, said, “we can’t say it was a complete success, but it certainly was not a failure.” The Shahab-3, with an estimated range of 800 to 930 miles depending on the weight of the payload, could become operational in a few months, senior US officials said, adding the test came six months ahead of Washington’s projections.

Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said that the test was “worrisome” and that Iran’s development of missiles and pursuit of chemical, biological and nuclear capability “are irresponsible and dangerous policies.” Iran, officials said, is building another version ofthe missile, the Shahab-4, expected to have a range of up to 1,240 miles – far enough to reach Central Europe. Officials say that the North Koreans played the key role in supplying Iran with the technology to develop both the missiles.