Officials: Iran’s ballistic missile test was fake

Officials: Iran’s ballistic missile test was fake

By | 2017-09-29T09:59:08-04:00 September 29th, 2017|News|0 Comments

iran missile

U.S. officials say Iran did not actually launch a ballistic missile this past weekend and had used an old video.

By Elad Benari – Arutz Sheva

Sources in the U.S. said on Monday that Iran’s launch of a new type of medium-range ballistic missile was fake, according to Fox News.

Iranian media reported on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had tested a new ballistic missile that is capable of carrying multiple warheads.

Called the Khorramshahr missile, the weapon has a range of 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) and can carry multiple warheads, according to Press TV.

But two U.S. officials told Fox News on Monday that the video released by the Iranians was more than seven months old – dating back to a failed launch in late January, which resulted in the missile exploding shortly after liftoff.

The failed late January launch was first reported by Fox News and prompted the White House to put Iran “on notice” days later.

President Donald Trump responded to Iran’s ballistic missile test this past Saturday, writing on Twitter, “Iran just test-fired a Ballistic Missile capable of reaching Israel. They are also working with North Korea. Not much of an agreement we have!”

Iran’s claim of a missile test came just weeks before Trump is due to update Congress whether Iran is in compliance with the nuclear deal it signed with world powers in 2015. The deadline for him to do so is October 15.

Should Trump say that Iran is not in compliance with the deal, Congress would have 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions waived under the deal.

The President has long been a vocal critic of the Iranian nuclear deal, and he repeated his criticism of the deal in his speech at the UN General Assembly last week.

Trump called the deal “an embarrassment” to the U.S. and “one of worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.”

While he recently confirmed that Iran is adhering to the nuclear agreement, he and other officials in the administration stressed that the President still has reservations about the deal.