Global Security Newswire

Iran announced that it had successfully today test-launched an improved version of its long-range Sajjil 2 missile, Reuters reported (see GSN, Oct. 29).

"Iran successfully tests optimized version of Sajjil 2 missile," state media reported.

The missile launch was in accordance with domestic endeavors to improve the country's national defense capabilities, Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said.

The two-stage Sajjil 2 missile is thought to have a range of about 1,250 miles (see GSN, Dec. 15). The indigenously produced missile tested today requires less time to launch and is more precise than an earlier model, Vahidi told state television.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he had spoken with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon about the missile launch.

"I have expressed to him and he has also expressed concern about the test of a long-range missile by Iran," he said while attending the climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"This is a matter of serious concern to the international community and it does make the case for us moving further on sanctions ... We will treat this with the seriousness it deserves," Brown said.

The United Kingdom, the United States and other Western nations have threatened Tehran with additional punitive sanctions over its controversial nuclear program (see related GSN story today; Reza Derakhshi, Reuters I/Yahoo!News, Dec. 16).

The potential range of the Sajjil 2 would allow it to reach Israel and U.S. military installations in the Persian Gulf, Reuters reported.

The test was "very worrying" and sent "a very bad signal to the international community," according to the French Foreign Ministry (Dahl/Hafezi, Reuters II/Yahoo!News, Dec. 16).

Washington said that the missile launch goes against Tehran's assertion that it has only peaceful ambitions, Agence France-Presse reported.

"At a time when the international community has offered Iran opportunities to begin to build trust and confidence, Iran's missile tests only undermine Iran's claims of peaceful intentions," said U.S. National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer.

"Such actions will increase the seriousness and resolve of the international community to hold Iran accountable for its continued defiance of its international obligations on its nuclear program," Hammer said (Aresu Eqbali, Agence France-Presse/Google News, Dec. 16).