The Coming "Moment of Truth" with Iran

Iran Tests Missile It Says Can Hit Israel U.S. Stresses Diplomacy Following Iranian Missile Launch
By: iStockAnalyst

Iran test-fired nine missiles Wednesday - including at least one that Tehran says is capable of striking Israel - and asserted that thousands more were "ready for launch." Bush administration officials downplayed the possibility of military action against the Islamic republic and belittled its claims of progress on its nuclear program.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters that the world is not closer to a military confrontation, even though Iran's missile launch came days after Israel conducted its own high-profile military exercise in the Mediterranean.

"What we're seeing is a lot of signaling going on," Gates said, adding that both Israel and Iran understand the consequences of military action.

Undersecretary of State William Burns told Congress that "we view force as an option that is on the table but a last resort." Burns said the United States and its allies had made pro-gress in thwarting Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"While deeply troubling, Iran's real nuclear progress has been less than the sum of its boasts," he said.

The statements by the Bush administration contrasted with tougher talk by the two leading presidential candidates.

Early Wednesday, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the presumptive Republican nominee, issued a statement saying the tests by Iran "demonstrate again the dangers it poses to its neighbors and to the wider region, especially Israel." Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., fired back that the missiles showed "the threat from Iran's nuclear program is real and it is grave" and that it is necessary to begin "direct, aggressive and sustained diplomacy." The two campaigns then squabbled over whether Obama had supported strong action against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard .

With six months left in President Bush's term, senior officials have repeatedly dismissed the chance of strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities.

Instead, the administration has stepped up a diplomatic effort, both toughening sanctions and joining other leading nations in sweetening incentives for Iran to suspend its nuclear activities and begin serious negotiations. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last month signed a joint letter to the Iranian foreign minister offering the deal, though the administration has refused thus far to allow a senior U.S. official to join other foreign officials in talks in Tehran.

Iran has responded with cryptic and somewhat encouraging comments, though it still works on its nuclear program. Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief and main Western interlocutor on Iran's nuclear program, is expected to meet with Iranian officials next week.

Burns said the United States and the other nations are working on "an intense public diplomacy campaign to explain what we're offering directly. ... We want the Iranian people to see clearly how serious we are about reconciliation and helping them to develop their full potential, but also who's responsible for Iran's isolation."

The Iranian naval games are taking place at the Strait of Hormuz, a Persian Gulf waterway that handles 40 percent of the world's oil.

Iranian TV showed three simultaneous launches, one of a new version of the Shahab-3 missile, which Tehran says carries a 1-ton conventional warhead and can travel 1,250 miles. That would put it well within range of U.S. troops in Iraq, the Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain and U.S. allies Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Iran said earlier this week that it would retaliate against U.S. and Israeli interests in the region if its nuclear facilities were attacked.

John Pike, the director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense consulting group, said that missile, which has been adapted from an old North Korean model, clearly is being refined to deliver nuclear weapons.

"If they are not developing nuclear weapons for this missile, why are they continuing to test it? It is worthless otherwise," Pike said. "They are still working on a delivery system, which is a major piece of the puzzle of the nuclear program."

Peter Zimmerman, a nuclear physicist who was formerly chief scientist for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said accuracy is poor and the missile could miss its target altogether. A nuclear missile , by contrast, would not have to be accurate because it would destroy an area far beyond its range of accuracy.

This story was compiled from reports by The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.

the test

Iran has test-fired what it calls a new version of the Shahab-3 missile, pictured above in an image from Iranian television. Officials say it has a range of 1,250 miles and is armed with a 1- ton conventional warhead. The earlier version of the missile has a range of up to 932 miles. response Defense Secretary Robert Gates, left, with acting Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, told reporters the world was not closer to a military confrontation, even though Iran's missile launch came days after Israel conducted its own military exercise in the Mediterranean.