Iranian general hails newly tested long-range missile, but defence minister denies launch took place

Iran launched a new long-range missile late last month, a general announced on Monday, trumpeting the accuracy of the latest such weapon to be test-fired in defiance of the West.

“A missile with a 2,000-kilometre range was tested two weeks ago,” said General Ali Abdolahi, adding that it has a negligible margin of error of just eight metres.

“We can guide this ballistic missile. It leaves the Earth’s atmosphere, re-enters it and hits the target without error,” the armed forces deputy chief-of-staff said, quoted by the website of state broadcaster IRINN.

However, several hours later, Defence Minister General Hossein Dehghan denied that such a test had taken place.

“We have not tested a missile with such a range as media reports said,” he said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

In early March, Iran carried out several short-, medium- and long-range (300 to 2,000 kilometres) precision missile tests across its territory, mostly from underground bases.