Iran test-fires long range missiles in Gulf

Iran has test-fired long range missiles during a naval exercise in the Gulf, the semi-official Fars news agency said on Saturday, following a threat by Tehran to close shipping lanes if the West imposes sanctions on its oil exports. The 10-day naval drill in the Gulf began last Saturday as Iran showed its resolve to counter any attack by enemies such as Israel or the US. "Iran test-fired missiles including long range [missiles], surface-to-sea ... in the Persian Gulf," Fars said. Meanwhile, Iran's oil minister said crude prices will rise to more than $200 per barrel if foreign sanctions are imposed on the country's oil exports over its disputed nuclear work, the Aseman weekly reported on Saturday. "Undoubtedly the price of crude will increase dramatically if sanctions are imposed on our oil ... It will reach at least over $200 per barrel," Rostam Qasemi said. Tehran threatened on Tuesday to stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if it became the target of an oil embargo over its nuclear ambitions, a move that could trigger military conflict with countries dependent on Gulf oil. Tensions with the West have risen since the UN nuclear watchdog reported on November 8 that Iran appears to have worked on designing an atomic bomb and may still be pursuing research to that end. Iran denies this and says it needs nuclear technology to generate electricity to meet growing domestic demand. During military drills in 2009, Iran test-fired its surface-to-surface Shahab-3 missile, said to be capable of reaching Israel and US bases in the Middle East. Washington has expressed concern about Tehran's missile progamme: including the Shahab-3, a strategic intermediate range ballistic missile with a range of up to 1,000km; the Ghadr-1 with an estimated 1,600km range; and a Shahab-3 variant known as Sajjil-2 with a range of up to 2,400km. Iranian media have said the naval exercise differed from previous ones in terms of "the vastness of the area of action and the military equipment and tactics that are being employed".