Iran fires "world's fastest underwater missile"

TEHRAN, Apr 2 (Reuters) Iran said today it had test fired what it described as the world's fastest underwater missile during a week of war games in the Gulf, Iranian state television reported.

''The world's fastest underwater missile was successfully test fired on the third day of the 'Holy Prophet war games','' state television reported in a caption without giving a source or details.

Western nations have been watching developments in Iran's missile capabilities with concern amid a standoff over the Iranian nuclear programme, which the West says is aimed at building atomic bombs. Iran says the programme is civilian.

On Friday, Iran's armed forces said they had successfully test fired a domestically produced missile from land which could evade radar.

Iranian state television had said that missile was called Fajr-3. But Hossein Salami, head of the Revolutionary Guards air force, did not name the new weapon or give the missile's range, saying it depended on the warhead weight.

He told state television it was a defensive weapon.

The U.S.-based military affairs Web site globalsecurity.org describes the Fajr-3 as a 240 mm artillery rocket with a 25-mile (40-km) range, one of a group of light rockets Iran has developed mainly for tactical use on the battlefield.

However, it also says Iran has been working on another missile, called the Kosar, that would be undetectable by radar and designed to sink ships in the Gulf.

REUTERS PR PC2039