Front-page Iran

Another Missle

Iran conducted its second major test of a new missile within days on Sunday, firing a high-speed torpedo it said no submarine or warship can escape at a time of increased tensions with the U.S. over its nuclear program.
The tests came during war games that Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have been holding in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea since Friday.
On the maneuvers' first day, Iran said it successfully tested the Fajr-3 missile, which can avoid radar and hit several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads.
The new torpedo, called the "Hoot," or "whale," could raise concerns over Iran's power in the Gulf, a vital corridor for the world's oil supplies and where the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet is based. During Iran's war with Iraq in the 1980s, Iranian ships attacked oil tankers in the Gulf, and Iran and the U.S. military engaged in limited clashes.
Iran's state television stopped its normal programs to break news of the torpedo test, showing it being launched from a ship into the Gulf waters, then hitting its target, a derelict ship.
Gen. Ali Fadavi, deputy head of the Revolutionary Guards' navy, said the ships that fire the Iranian-made Hoot had radar-evading technology and that the torpedo - moving at 223 miles per hour - was too fast to elude.
"It has a very powerful warhead designed to hit big submarines. Even if enemy warship sensors identify the missile, no warship can escape from this missile because of its high speed," Fadavi told state television.
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U.S. Committed to Diplomacy

In an interview with the ITV television channel recorded in Liverpool on Saturday, Rice acknowledged concerns that the standoff between the U.N. Security Council and Iran over its nuclear program could lead to the U.S. taking pre-emptive military action.
But she said: "Iran is not Iraq. I know that's what's on people's minds. The circumstances are different," Rice said.
"I just want to be very clear, Iran is not Iraq. However, the president of the United States doesn't take his options off the table. We are committed to a diplomatic course because we believe that a diplomatic course can work," she said.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who met with Rice in England before traveling with her to Iraq, has said it is inconceivable that military action would be taken against Iran.
However, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported that Britain's government and military chiefs plan to hold secret talks Monday to discuss contingency plans about possible military strikes against Iran
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No Plans to Attack

British officials say they are not considering an attack on Iran and have no plans to discuss a military option, as has been reported in British media.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense said a Sunday Telegraph article was wrong in saying British defense officials would meet Monday to discuss what action to take if Iran attacked Iraq -- such as strategically bombing suspected Iranian nuclear plants.
Sky News reports both British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are pushing for diplomacy on the Iranian issue to continue.
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US will Find Another Excuse to Target Iran

The United States is firm in its plans to launch a military operation against Iran, said Kazim Jalali, a spokesman for the Iranian Parliament’s Commission of Foreign Affairs, adding the United States would find another reason for its military operation even if the nuclear plants were immediately shut down.
There are peaceful motives behind the nuclear projects in Iran, said Jalali, when he asserted that the use of nuclear weapons is outlawed according to Islam too. The Western news media distorted what Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said about Israel, Jalali argued.
Jalali was hosted in Turkey by the Political Thought Platform. Iran signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, NPT, Jalali told Zaman, and added that the treaty accords certain rights to produce and utilize nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
There are nuclear projects in Iran that allow international monitoring, said Jalali.
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