Global Arab Network | US calls Iran tests "provocative"

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US calls Iran tests "provocative"

Global Arab Network - - Adam Turner

Tuesday, 29 September 2009 13:32

Iran test fires missiles in what Washington calls a "provocative" act, just days ahead of Tehran's meeting with major powers.

On Monday, Iran test-fired the Shahab 3 and Sejil missiles having the longest range in Tehran's arsenal.

Two shorter range missiles, the Shahab 1 and Shahab 2, were test-fired hours earlier during military exercises by the elite Revolutionary Guards.

Britain, France and the European Union all expressed their "concern" after the tests, which come just days before Tehran is due to meet the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, along with Germany, to discuss its nuclear programme.

"We call on Iran to choose the path of co-operation rather than confrontation, by immediately ceasing these deeply destabilising activities," a statement from the French foreign ministry said.

Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said that the tests were consistent with the "provocative nature with which Iran has acted on the world stage".

He urged Tehran to allow "unfettered access" to its nuclear facilities and said there was an "international consensus" to address the issue

Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, also voiced concern about the missile tests.

"Of course it is worrisome when missile launches happen against the backdrop of an unresolved situation concerning Iran's nuclear programme," Russian news agencies quoted him as saying.

Lavrov was speaking to Russian reporters in New York after meeting his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, whom he said he urged to be "maximally co-operative" with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in investigating the construction of a new uranium enrichment plant.

"We assume, that the Iranian side had heard us and we will see some kind of result of today's meeting," he said.

But Lavrov also said he was "convinced restraint is needed", without elaborating, seeming to back up a source from his ministry who told Russian agencies earlier on Monday that Moscow wanted Western powers, seeking to introduce fresh sanctions against Iran, to exercise restraint.

"We should not give way to emotions now," the ministry source had said. "We should try to calm down and the main thing is to launch a productive negotiations process."

Iranian officials have said the Shahab 3, which was last tested in mid-2008, and the Sejil can both travel about 2,000km.

"Iranian missiles are able to target any place that threatens Iran," Abdollah Araqi, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency.

The missile tests come at a time of increased tension after last week's disclosure by the US - followed by Tehran's admission - that it is building am erstwhile secret second uranium enrichment plant.

Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief, said that the missile tests placed the October 1 meeting over Iran's nuclear programme "in a new context". (Reuters, Fars news agency, Aljazeera)

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