Israeli TV shows ‘Iranian missile’ that ‘can reach far beyond Europe’

Iran has built a 27-meter-long missile, capable of delivering a warhead “far beyond Europe,” and placed it on a launch pad at a site close to Tehran, an Israeli television report said Wednesday, showing what it said were the first satellite images of the missile ever seen in the West.

It stressed that the missile could be used to launch spacecraft or satellites, but also to carry warheads.

The Channel 2 news report showed satellite imagery documenting what it said was Iran’s “very rapid progress” on long-range missile manufacture.

It showed one photograph of a site near Tehran, which it said the West had known about for two years, where Iran was working on engines for its long-range missiles.

It then showed a satellite photograph of a second site, nearby, which featured a launch pad, with the 27-meter missile on it — an Iranian missile “never seen before” by the West.

The missile is capable of taking a manned spacecraft or satellite into space, the TV report said.

It is also capable of carrying a conventional or non-conventional warhead “far beyond Europe,” the report added.

The TV report said the satellite images were taken by the Eros B commercial Earth observation satellite, which was designed and manufactured by Israel Aircraft Industries, launched in 2006, and is owned by the Israeli firm ImageSat International.

Israel has long charged that Iran is working toward a nuclear weapons capability, and has publicly opposed any negotiated accommodation with Iran that would leave it with a uranium enrichment capability for potential nuclear weapons use.