Target: Tel Aviv...3...2...1...Launch!
Iran has Is-not-real ranged
WASHINGTON - Iran defiantly test-fired at least nine missiles capable of striking at Israel and U.S. bases in the Mideast Wednesday, angering Western nations that had feared Tehran possessed the menacing long-range technology.
"Our hands are always on the trigger, and our missiles are ready for launch," crowed Gen. Hossein Salami, commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard.
Among the rockets fired during Iran's unannounced war games was a modified Shahab-3 missile that had been upgraded to a 1,250-mile range capable of threatening Israel.
"I see it as evidence that the missile threat is not an imaginary one," Secretary of State Rice said while traveling in Europe. She was there in part to sell a U.S. plan to build a missile defense shield over the continent.
"Those who say that there is no Iranian missile threat against which we should be building missile defenses perhaps ought to talk to the Iranians," Rice added, a shot aimed at Russia's criticism of the missile shield.
President Bush was silent on the topic, but White House hopefuls John McCainBarack Obama each reached for the stick - while the Democrat also waved a bit of carrot. and
Obama, who has said he would hold direct talks with Iran, said the launches were fresh proof of why the Bush-McCain approach does not work.
"These missile tests demonstrate once again that we need to change our policy to deal aggressively with the threat posed by the Iranian regime," Obama said in a statement.
Obama said his approach would include "direct and aggressive diplomacy" backed by "tougher unilateral and multilateral sanctions."
"It's time to offer the Iranians a clear choice between increased costs for continuing their troubling behavior and concrete incentives that would come if they change course," Obama said.
Speaking on morning news shows, he also pointed to reports that U.S. exports to Iran have increased 10-fold during the Bush administration, in spite of the White House's tough talk.
"It's that kind of mixed signal that I think has led to the kind of situation that we're in right now," he said on ABC.
Response to Israeli test run
McCain had joked late Tuesday about the increased sales of goods to Iran, particularly $158 million in cigarettes.
"Maybe that's a way of killing them," he quipped to reporters in Pennsylvania.
Wednesday, McCain highlighted his get-tougher approach, which includes building Bush's missile shield system in the Czech Republic and Poland.
He also took a direct shot at Obama, suggesting the Illinois senator was soft on Iran's Revolutionary Guard because the Democrat did not vote for a measure branding the Guard a terrorist group last year.
In Tel Aviv, chief Israeli spokesman Marc Regev added, "The Iranian military nuclear program and Iran's ballistic missiles program are of grave concern to Israel."
Iran made it clear the launch was an answer to the Israeli air force's test run last week simulating a potential bombing mission aimed at Iranian nuclear targets.
Bush administration officials were unhappy with the test flights but shook off prospects for a new Mideast war. Tehran's war games were seen more as a message that just like Israel can hit Iran, Iran can strike Israel.
"I think what we're seeing is a lot of signaling going on," said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. "I think everybody recognizes what the consequences of any kind of a conflict would be."
Tags: Iran Israel
