Iran Tests Ballistic Missile Capable Of Reaching Israel: Media Report

Iran reportedly tested a medium-range ballistic missile successfully two weeks ago that can reach as far as Israel, the local media reported Monday.

"We tested a missile with a range of 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles) and eight metres error margin two weeks ago. An eight-metre error margin means ...full accuracy," Iranian news agency Tasnim quoted Brigadier General Ali Abdollahi as saying.

But Iran's Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan has denied the reports. Speaking to the official IRNA news agency, Dehghan said the military has not conducted a missile test "with the range that was published in the media," without elaborating and without denying the existence of a military test two weeks ago.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed in March during the military drills - ‘Eqtedar-e-Velayat’, that its missiles are capable of reaching Palestinian territories occupied by Israel.

The drills involved coordinating ballistic missiles launches from across the country. According to an IRGC statement, this was aimed at proving Tehran's 'deterrence power' and the nation's 'full readiness to confront all kinds of threats against the [Islamic] Revolution, establishment and [Iran's] territorial integrity'.

Washington had imposed new sanctions over Iran’s missile program in January, almost immediately after lifting separate sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program under the nuclear deal, following ballistic missile tests carried out in October last year of the new Emad guided ballistic missile.

Tehran has repeatedly stressed that its missile program is purely defensive in nature that it poses no threat to other countries in the region.