Amidst International Pressure, Iran Fires Test Missiles

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard kicked off two days of medium range missile tests and war games.
Amidst International Pressure, Iran Fires Test Missiles
Short-range missile (Zelzal) is test-launched during war games in Qom, 74 miles south of Tehran, on Sept. 27, 2009. (SHAIGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
9/28/2009
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/missile91187856.jpg" alt="Short-range missile (Zelzal) is test-launched during war games in Qom, 74 miles south of Tehran, on Sept. 27, 2009.  (SHAIGAN/AFP/Getty Images)" title="Short-range missile (Zelzal) is test-launched during war games in Qom, 74 miles south of Tehran, on Sept. 27, 2009.  (SHAIGAN/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1826035"/></a>
Short-range missile (Zelzal) is test-launched during war games in Qom, 74 miles south of Tehran, on Sept. 27, 2009.  (SHAIGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
The Revolutionary Guard, the military arm of the Islamic regime in Iran, kicked off two days of medium range missile tests and war games in a show of military might on Sunday and Monday. The tests come as international pressure mounts against the regime after revelations of a secret uranium enrichment facility in the city of Qom.

“We will give a fully decisive, crushing and destructive response to anyone who poses a threat to the existence, independence and freedom of the ruling system and our values,” Air Force General Hossein Salami told the Fars New Agency on Monday.

The launch of the military tests is seen by some analysts to be a choreographed response to the heightened international pressure after the nuclear facility in Qom was revealed, 60 miles from another known uranium enrichment facility in Natanz.

While acknowledging the significance of the missile tests, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the administration did not find the tests to be outside of the existing behavior and actions of the Islamic Regime.

“I would lump any of these into the provocative nature with which Iran has acted on the world stage for a number of years,” Gibbs said.

The missile tests of the regime’s new medium range ballistic missiles would be in range of striking distance of Israel and U.S. military bases in the Middle East region and south-eastern Europe.

The tests come ahead of the P5+1 talks, which will be the first direct U.S. diplomatic engagement with Iran, to take place in Geneva on Thursday.

Previous attempts to engage in severe sanctions against Iran have lost traction due to the efforts of two sitting members of the Security Council, China and Russia, who have strong diplomatic and trade partnerships with the country.

However, the Obama administration sees the strongest international consensus yet after coming out of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh last week.

“There has never been a stronger international consensus to address Iran and their nuclear weapons program as there is now,” said Gibbs.

When asked if there was anything the regime could do to prove they are in the midst of a peaceful pursuit of nuclear energy, Gibbs said, “Sure. They can, as I just said, agree to immediate, unfettered access. I think that would be the least that they can do.”

“They have one of two paths that they can take. They can continue the path that they’ve been on, even while the world has shown conclusive intelligence about a facility in Qom.

“Or it can make a decision to step away from its nuclear weapons program and build confidence in the world and enter into a meaningful relationship with the world based on their own security, but not based on nuclear weapons.”