Iran test fires three new missiles in Gulf

Iran has successfully test-fired three new models of missiles in the Persian gulf, state TV reported today.

Television showed footage of the elite Revolutionary Guards firing the missiles from mobile launching pads on the shore, and from warships.

The three new types of missiles, named Noor, Kowsar, and Nasr, have a range of more than 100 miles and were built for naval warfare, TV reported.

The weapons are “suitable for covering all the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian gulf and the sea of Oman” said Admiral Sardar Fadavi, the deputy navy chief of the Revolutionary Guard.

Some 20% of the world’s oil supply passes every day through the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The Revolutionary Guards began the manoeuvres, named Great Prophet, yesterday by firing dozens of long-range missiles in a desert area of central Iran.

State TV said the new missiles fired today were Iranian-made and could be used in land-to-sea or sea-to-sea warfare.

It did not give more details about the weapons.

Iranian forces have previously test fired missiles in the crowed Gulf waters, but today’s manoeuvres appeared to be Iran’s response to a US-led military exercise held earlier this week in the same zone.