WASHINGTON — Iran test-fired nine missiles Wednesday — including at least one capable of striking Israel — and asserted that thousands more were “ready for launch,” but Bush administration officials downplayed the possibility of military action and belittled Iran’s claims of progress on its nuclear program.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters the world was not closer to a military confrontation, even though Iran’s missile launch came just days after Israel conducted its own high-profile military exercise in the Mediterranean.
“What we’re seeing is a lot of signaling going on,” he said, adding that both Israel and Iran “understand (the) consequences” of military action.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, issued a statement against Iran early Wednesday that the tests “demonstrate again the dangers it poses to its neighbors and to the wider region, especially Israel.”
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., fired back that the missiles showed “the threat from Iran’s nuclear program is real and it is grave” and that it is necessary to begin “direct, aggressive and sustained diplomacy.”
With only six months remaining in President Bush’s term, senior officials have repeatedly dismissed the possibility of military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Instead, the administration has stepped up a diplomatic effort, both toughening sanctions and joining other leading nations in sweetening incentives for Iran to suspend its nuclear activities and begin serious negotiations.
Analysts said the tests, along with Iranian rhetoric, were meant as a highly symbolic warning to Israel and the U.S.
“We warn the enemies who intend to threaten us with military exercises and empty psychological operations that our hand will always be on the trigger and our missiles will always be ready to launch,” Revolutionary Guards air-force commander Hossein Salami said Wednesday.
