Iran test-fires new missile amid rising tensions with US

TEHRAN: The head of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard said it has successfully test-fired a “new missile” amid growing tensions with the United States and the unravelling of the nuclear deal with world powers.

General Hossein Salami told a group of clerics on Saturday about the missile test a day earlier, according to semi-official Tasnim news agency.

He called it “one of the successful days of the nation,” but did not give any further details on the weapon or the test itself. On Thursday, Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani officially revealed an Iran-made air-defence missile system, the Bavar-373.

Since 1992, Iran has developed a homegrown defence industry. The US re-imposed sanctions on Iran after it pulled out of the 2015 nuclear agreement over concerns about Iran’s missile programme and regional influence. The Trump Administration had argued that the accord did not do enough to limit Iran’s ballistic missile programme.