July 8, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 7,1424

TEHRAN, July 7: Iran has conducted a final test of its Shahab-3 ballistic missile, the Iranian foreign ministry confirmed on Monday, in a move that brings Israel well within the range of Tehran’s armed forces.

The announcement sparked immediate alarm in Israel, and also came as Iran’s clerical leaders dug in on their refusal to allow tougher UN inspections of their civil nuclear programme, seen by the United States as a cover for nuclear weapons development.

“The test took place several weeks ago. The range of the missile is what we declared before,” foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters, adding the test was the final one before the missile was handed over for operation by the country’s army.

Officials here have previously said the missile has a range of 1,300 kilometers. It can reportedly carry a warhead weighing up to 1,000 kilogrammes.

Asefi was reacting to a report in the Israeli Haaretz newspaper last week which said Iran had conducted the test just over a week ago and was now capable of hitting the Jewish state, American forces in the Gulf or the Indian subcontinent.

“This is nothing new,” Asefi said. “Apparently the Israelis are a bit late with their information.”

In Israel, government spokesman Avi Pazner told AFP that the Jewish state was “very concerned” at the development.

Iran has fiercely denied accusations it has a nuclear weapons programme, and asserts its missile development is purely for its own defence.—AFP