Gates confirms Iranian missile test

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirmed that Iran successfully test-fired a new medium-range missile, the first successful launch with a solid-fuel missile. Missiles that rely on solid-fuel propellant can be more easily transported and prepared for launch than their liquid-fuel counterparts.  However, the test did not suggest Iran has expanded the reach of its missiles, said Greg Thielmann of the Ploughshares-funded Arms Control Association, and "thus, no new countries would be threatened by the new solid-(fueled missile) that are not already threatened." Paul Ingram of the British American Security Information Council (BASIC), another Ploughshares grantee, stressed to Voice of America that it's difficult to determine if the test launch is a worrisome development, but that "it does sound like campaign rhetoric” by President Ahmedinejad.

"It is no coincidence that we are in the middle of an election campaign,” Ingram said. “Ahmedinejad has staked his domestic reputation on a position that has been to heighten tensions between Iran and the West. This current phase is very difficult to have any sort of cold analysis of the facts, because that is exactly what Ahmedinejad doesn't want. As with so many of these launches, the reality on the ground is so much less sensational than Ahmedinejad likes to whip up in these cases."