February 08, 2007	Thursday	Muharram 19, 1428

TEHRAN, Feb 7: Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday successfully test-fired a new Russian-made air defence missile system, whose delivery last month sparked bitter US criticism.

The test-firing of the surface-to-air missiles, on the first of two days of war games by the Guards' air force and naval divisions, comes amid mounting tensions with the West over the Iranian nuclear programme.

Iranian state television showed several missiles from the TOR-M1 system being fired in the desert from mobile vehicle launchers and then successfully taking out their targets in the sky.

“We have successfully test-fired the new modern TOR-M1 defence system, within the framework of the Revolutionary Guards defence doctrine based on a military strategy of deterrence,” Revolutionary Guards air force commander Hossein Salami was quoted as telling the ISNA news agency. “The Iranian armed forces have added the new missile system to its defences to consolidate its defence capabilities,” he said.—AFP