On July 9th Iran flaunted its military capabilities as it showed off an image showing the test launch of four missiles, one of which, according to Iran, has the power to reach a distance of 1,240 miles. This means that one of Iran’s missiles could easily reach their Middle East rivals, Israel.
Israel “Prepared to React” Over Iran
With this new, supposed, threat to the security of the Israelis, they have wasted little time in talking the talk. Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak, has said in a press conference that Israel had "proved in the past that it would not hesitate to act when its vital security interests are at stake". Israel themselves have been showing off their weapons in recent weeks as the two nations appear to have been playing a very public game of "Chicken", seeing which nation would step down upon seeing the other’s military hardware. However, as the situation begins to escalate and with these words from the Israeli defence minister ringing in the world’s ears it seems that neither side will be backing down any time soon.
Ahmadinejad Is Not Prepared For War
Despite allowing the world to bear witness to it’s missile tests, President Ahmadinejad claims that this does not mean that Iran are on the brink of waging war upon any of it’s enemies, notably Israel. Regardless of this statement it is clear that the Iranians were testing these missiles for a reason and in reality there is only really one thing missiles are good for, war. Therefore the Iranian government must be prepared for something, either the starting of a war, defending themselves against Israeli or U.S. attack or they are simply a nation of people who are fond of lights in the sky.
Iran Fakes Missile Test?
The very image that sparked all this controversy, the picture broadcasting the four missiles being launched, has now come under some substantial scrutiny. The image, published on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards website, clearly shows that four missiles were launched into the sky. New information that has come to light in the last 24 hours thanks to the Associated Press suggests that the Iranians may have doctored the image in order to exaggerate its military might. The Associated Press say that they took a picture of the same scene and this image shows that one of the missiles in is still its launcher, apparently misfiring, meaning that there were not four missiles launched.
Whatever the truth over the incident, these appear to be very worrying times for the Middle East as the area threatens to descend further and further into chaos.
