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Published 30 Nov, -0001 12:00am

Iran tests new automatic cannons in war games

"The range of cannons and rockets tested today is between 75 kilometres (45 miles) and 120 kilometres (75 miles) and it is the first time that a new generation of automatic cannons with a range of 75 kilometres has been successfully tested," the manoeuvre's spokesman, Brigader General Ali Fazli, was quoted as saying by the student news agency ISNA.
Iran's elite revolutionary guards launched the 10-day war games last Thursday by firing, for the first time in manoeuvres, its longer-range Shahab-3 ballistic missile, triggering widespread international concerns.
The missiles have a range of up to 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) -- sufficient to threaten US bases in the Gulf.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran would "suffer greatly" if it used the weapon in anger while Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz urged the world to act over Iran's ballistic missiles testing.
Iran's revolutionary guards chief Yahya Rahim Safavi has said the Great Prophet II war games are aimed at showing off Iran's ability to defend itself against any threat and to test new military hardware.
Iran is engaged in a mounting stand-off with the West over its sensitive nuclear programme, defying demands to halt activities world powers fear could be diverted to developing an atom bomb.
Iran insists its nuclear drive is aimed solely at generating energy.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2006

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