Iran test-fired the upgraded 2,000-kilometer-range Shahab-3 missile and nine other highly advanced missiles during a military drill in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday.

Islamic Revolution’s Guards Corps (IRGC) successfully test-fired the upgraded, long-range Shahab-3 missile in navy maneuvers dubbed “Great Prophet (PBUH) 3“ in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday.
The Armed Forces test-fired the developed 2,000-kilometer missile at (0430 GMT) with a conventional warhead weighing one ton in the maneuvers aimed at improving combat readiness and capability of the missile and naval units, Alalam reported.
Nine highly advanced missiles, including the Zelzal and Fateh missiles with ranges of 400 km and 170 km respectively, were also tested during the maneuver.
The IRGC has made breakthroughs in Iran’s most significant ballistic missiles, including the Shahab-3 longer range missile, whose range has the Israeli regime and US bases in the Persian Gulf within reach.
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Also on Wednesday, an Air Force commander of IRGC said Iranians are always ready to defend their national interests and sovereignty.
Speaking to reporters during the second day of the military drill, Brigadier General Hossein Salami said, “Our missile capability is only a minor part of our deterrence potentials,“ stressing that Iran’s response to any threat would be severe and serious. “The enemy’s targets are under surveillance while our missiles are ready to shoot any time.. Iran’s Armed Forces are ready to retaliate against any threats quickly and precisely,“ he said.
“We warn enemies, who intend to threaten us with military exercises and empty psychological tactics, that our finger will always be on the trigger and our missiles will always be ready to launch.“
Salami said the objectives of the maneuver are to reinforce national self-confidence and send a clear message to the enemy to avoid repeating previous blunders.
“The operational goal of the military drill was simultaneous shooting of a large number of missiles with different ranges at various targets,“ he said.
The Air Force commander said Iran has the capability to target enemies with missiles if attacked.
Iran has been become a leading missile power of the region by relying on its domestic technology and expertise of Iranian engineers and experts.
The country produces many high-precision long- and medium-range missiles.

Media Coverage
The testing of nine simultaneous long- and mid-range locally-produced missiles received extensive coverage by the regional and western media.
Agence France Presse, Cable News Network (CNN), The Associated Press and Reuters covered the development extensively.
Syria’s official news agency SANA said Iran has tested long-range missiles and drones successfully in the military exercise.
Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported that Iran successfully tested Shahab-3 missile, which covers a range of 2,000 km.
This is while the Saudi news agency SPA reported that IRGC Air Force tested nine mid- and long-range ground-to-ground missiles in a military drill in the Persian Gulf waters.
The news of Iran’s successful testing of missiles was also reflected by the Egyptian radio and television.
In its report about the military drill, Reuters said Shahab-3 missiles are capable of hitting Israel and American military bases in the region.
The missile tests rattled oil markets, helping crude prices to rebound about $2 a barrel after recent falls.
Speculation that Israel could bomb Iran has mounted since an Israeli air drill last month.

Armed men attacked a police guard post outside the US Consulate in Istanbul on Wednesday.
Turkish officials called it a terrorist attack and said three officers and three of the assailants were killed.
At least one of the attackers opened fire at the post near the consulate’s main entrance at about 11 a.m., a US embassy spokeswoman said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, AP reported.
There were no reports of casualties among American consulate employees, she said.
“There is no doubt that this is a terrorist attack,“ Istanbul Gov. Muammer Guler said.
Three policemen “were martyred“ and three attackers were killed, he said. Police were pursuing a fourth attacker who reportedly escaped in a van.
Guler said two of the attackers were Turkish nationals. A policeman and a tow-truck driver were also injured, he said.
Istanbul Prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin said the attackers were armed with pistols and shotguns. Forensic teams were seen examining a shotgun on the ground.
The attack occurred right outside the high-walled consulate compound in Istanbul’s Istinye district. Television footage showed four people lying on the ground at the foot of the consulate’s wall before officials removed the bodies.
Yavuz Erkut Yuksel, a bystander, told CNN-Turk television the attackers emerged from a white vehicle and surprised a guard.
“One of them approached a policeman while hiding his gun and shot him in the head,“ Yuksel said.
The secure US Consulate building was built after homegrown militants linked to Al-Qaeda carried out suicide bombings in 2003 that targeted two synagogues, the British Consulate and a British bank in Istanbul, killing 58 people.
The consulate occupies an imposing structure on a hill in Istinye, a densely residential neighborhood along the Bosporus Strait on the European side of Istanbul.

An Israeli commission has approved the controversial construction of 920 new homes in occupied east Beit-ul-Moqaddas, the municipality said on Wednesday, in a new blow to shaky peace talks with the Palestinians.
“The district commission has approved for construction 920 housing units in Har Homa,“ a statement said, referring to a neighborhood in east Beit-ul-Moqaddas known as Jabel Abu Ghneim that has more than 10,000 residents. The Har Homa project is part of a plan to build some 40,000 new homes over the next decade in neighborhoods in both east and west Beit-ul-Moqaddas, which the housing minister approved in June, a ministry official told AFP.
Until now specific aspects of this project were unknown. Israel occupied and annexed the eastern half of the city after the 1967 war in a move not recognized by the international community or the Palestinians, who wish to make the holy city the capital of their future state.
A total of 245,000 Palestinians live in east Beit-ul-Moqaddas alongside more than 200,000 Jewish settlers.
Israel pledged to halt all settlement activity in the occupied West Bank when peace talks were revived at a conference in the United States last year.
But it considers the whole of Beit-ul-Moqaddas its “eternal, undivided“ capital and has insisted it will continue to build in both the city’s eastern sector and in the larger West Bank settlement blocs that it intends to keep in any deal.
Little progress has been made in the negotiations so far, with the thorny settlements issue one of the major bones of contention.
Israel’s settlement expansion in Beit-ul-Moqaddas has infuriated the Palestinians who have accused Israel of obstructing peace efforts.
The United States has heavily criticized its close ally over its settlement activity in the occupied territories, with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warning that the settlements issue must not block any peace deal.
“No party should be taking steps at this point that could prejudice the outcome of the negotiations,“ Rice said after meeting Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas in June.