New Maritime Weapon Tested, says Iranian Press

The weapon's range intimates that it is some kind of torpedo It has been reported in Iran that a new maritime weapon has been undergoing testing there.

Quoted by news agency IRNA, General Mohammed Ali Jafari – Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards – referred to the weapon as “unique in the world”, adding that it was able to reach targets 300 kilometres away.

Global Arms

The report gave no additional information on the weapon’s capabilities, neither did it detail when the testing took place. However, in further comments attributed to Jafari, it was isolated from all other global arms with the statement that “no similar weapon in the service of armies in the world" existed.

Missile Test Launches

Last month, Iran carried out a stream of missile test launches featuring, according to Iranian officials, an “upgraded” version of the Shahab-3 missile.

On the basis of the new naval weapon’s quoted range, the intimation is that it falls with the ‘torpedo’ classification.

Iranian Nuclear Discussions

In related news, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – the President of Iran – expressed on August 3^rd some indication of the degree of his commitment to discussions concerning the country’s nuclear activity.

Previously, Iran was provided with a deadline of 14 days to pledge an end to its uranium enrichment. This deadline expired on Saturday 2^nd August, by which time no response had been issued.

Subsequently, in comments broadcast on Iranian television, Mr Ahmadinejad asserted: "We are serious in talks and we want the talks to be based on the law so it will bear practical results.

"We hope that other sides are serious too."

Earlier, however, the President had also said he would not retreat from the nuclear issue in any way.

Ahmadinejad’s comments followed two days of talks with Bashar al-Assad, the President of Syria. Al-Assad himself had said, before these, that he would use his Iranian connections to try and smooth over the country’s prickly relationship with Western powers at present.

Speaking to the media, however, he stated: "I am not a mediator nor an emissary, and was not asked to deliver any message by any Western official."

The nuclear theme, Al-Assad added, had come up, but he provided no further information apart from that.

Uranium Enrichment

The US and others suspect that the uranium Iran is enriching is intended for use in the production of nuclear weaponry. Iran, however, has said time and time again that it is to be used for non-aggressive purposes.

In exchange for Iran abandoning the programme, officials gathered in Geneva earlier this month said that they would not impose any more sanctions.

In addition to not publically expressing any form of reply to the proposal, it was said on August 2nd that Iranian officials had denied that a fortnight timeline was ever given them to respond.

Source – Armed Forces International’s Middle East Correspondent

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