Iran to test Qased-2 missile soon

TEHRAN, March 2 (MNA) -- Iran will test its latest domestically manufactured guided missile, the Qased-2 (Messenger-2), in the near future, Air Force Commander Hassan Shah-Saffi said here on Monday.

The Qased-2 has a longer range than the Qased-1, which was an earlier version of the guided missile, Shah-Saffi told the Fars News Agency.

During an air maneuver over the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman last year, Iran successfully tested the Qased-1.

The intelligent 2000-pound Qased-1 missile was mass-produced and many were delivered to the Air Force, Shah-Saffi said.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he played down the importance of the new missile defense systems established by the United States in regional countries, saying the U.S. tested its previous systems but achieved no results.

Tension between the U.S. and Iran rose on February 1 after the Obama administration quietly increased the capability of land and sea-based missile defenses in several Persian Gulf nations.

At the end of January, administration officials said that the U.S. was speeding up arms sales to a number of Persian Gulf Arab states and that it had also deployed warships capable of knocking down hostile missiles in flight to the region.

Two senior defense officials told Fox News on February 1 that missile defense systems, including sea-based Aegis destroyers and Patriot missiles, were being sent to the Persian Gulf region. One official said the build-up was “previewed in the president’s strategy on missile defense last year.”

The moves, which include the sales of anti-missile systems to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait, seem to be designed to pressure Iran.