Report: Iran builds surface-to-surface missile

Tehran claims new weapon has a range of 700 kilometers and can be launched from a variety of platforms

Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp celebrate after a missile launch in July 2012 (AP/IRNA, Mostafa Qotbi)
Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp celebrate after a missile launch in July 2012 (AP/IRNA, Mostafa Qotbi)

TEHRAN, Iran — A news agency in Iran is reporting that the Islamic Republic has built a new surface-to-surface cruise missile capable of being launched from an airplane.

The report Sunday by the semi-official Fars news agency quotes Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the airspace department of the elite Revolutionary Guard, as saying that the missile has a range of 700 kilometers (435 miles).

Hajizadeh said the missile can be launched from land-based pads, naval vessels, aircraft, helicopters and drones.

From time to time Iran announces building new military devices, which cannot be independently verified. Iran began a self-sufficient military program in 1992, under which the country produces weapons from mortars to submarines.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.

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