Further demonstrating its commitment to getting on board the U.N.'s plan for a peaceful resolution of the standoff over its nuclear program, Iran has announced that it successfully test-fired a new high-speed missile capable of destroying huge warships and submarines.
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran announced its second major new missile test within days, saying Sunday it has successfully fired a high-speed torpedo capable of destroying huge warships and submarines.
The tests came during war games that Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have been holding in the Gulf and the Arabian Sea since Friday at a time of increased tensions with the United States over Tehran's nuclear program.
The Iranian-made torpedo — called the "Hoot," or "whale" — has a speed of 223 miles per hour, said Gen. Ali Fadavi, deputy head of the Revolutionary Guards' Navy.
That would make it about three or four times faster than a normal torpedo and as fast as the world's known fastest, the Russian-made VA-111 Shkval, developed in 1995. It was not immediately known if the Hoot was based on the Shkval.
"It has a very powerful warhead designed to hit big submarines. Even if enemy warship sensors identify the missile, no warship can escape from this missile because of its high speed," Fadavi told state-run television.
The New York Times describes the missile as a "sonar-evading underwater missile," and reports that, according to Iran, the new missile is among the world's fastest and can outpace an enemy warship.
According to Iran, only one other country, Russia, had a missile that moved underwater as fast as the Iranian one, which is said to have a speed of about 225 miles per hour.
It was not immediately clear whether the torpedo can carry a nuclear warhead, according to Fox News.
For more posts on the threat posed by Iran, click here.
Update 4/3/06: Washington at Rolling Barrage does a nice job of putting Iran's new torpedo system into military perspective. A Blog for All also has some thoughts on the feasibility and possible uses of Iran's new weapons.
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