Iran fires missiles in war games: State TV

Tehran, Nov 2: Iran's Revolutionary Guards fired missiles able to carry cluster warheads at the start of ten days of military manoeuvres today, state television said.

Tehran had said the manoeuvres, which will last until Nov 11 and include drills in the Gulf and Sea of Oman, would be a show of ''defensive strength''.

Tensions between Iran and western powers are high as the latter try to agree a draft UN sanctions resolution aimed at forcing Tehran to scale back atomic work they fear may be used to make bombs. Iran says its aims are purely peaceful.

''Dozens of missiles were fired including Shahab-2 and Shahab-3 missiles. The missiles had ranges from 300 km up to 2,000 km (1,200 miles),'' Iranian state television reported, without showing any footage.

A reporter for state-owned Arabic-language Al-Alam television earlier told Reuters from central Iran, near where he said the missiles were fired, that Shahab-3 missiles could carry cluster warheads. State television confirmed this.

''Iranian experts have made some changes to Shahab-3 missiles installing cluster warheads in them with the capacity to carry 1,400 bombs,'' state television said. It did not say whether the unarmed missiles fired were carrying warheads at the time.

Experts say Iran's Shahab-3 missiles have a maximum range of some 2,000 km, making them capable of hitting Israel as well as US military bases in the Gulf. They say the Shahab-2 missile has a range of up to 700 km.

Iran's manoeuvres follow US-led naval exercises involving 25 nations in the Gulf on Monday to train forces to block the transport of weapons of mass destruction and related equipment.

US officials accuse Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, of planning to equip its missiles with nuclear warheads. Iran denies the charge, saying its nuclear programme is aimed at making electricity not bombs.

Yahya Rahim Safavi, commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards, had said before the war games ground, air and naval forces, including submarines, would take part in drills dubbed ''The Greatest Prophet'', mainly in the Gulf and Sea of Oman.

The Revolutionary Guards, the ideologically driven wing of the armed forces which has a separate command structure from the regular military, held war games in the Gulf in April in which they tested new missiles, torpedoes and other equipment.

Analysts interpreted those exercises as a thinly veiled threat that Iran could disrupt vital oil shipping lanes if pushed by an escalation in the dispute over the country's nuclear programme.

REUTERS