Iran missile test to boost defence, says Official

CANBERRA - - Iran tested a ballistic missile to strengthen its defence in the face of threats by Israel amid a simmering row over Iran's nuclear ambitions, a senior Iranian security official said recently.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary, Hassan Rowhani, said his country's nuclear programme was aimed solely at generating electricity and not at building nuclear weapons.

Tehran tested a Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile on Wednesday and defence experts said the weapon could reach Israel or U.S. bases in the Gulf. Last month Iran resumed making parts for uranium enrichment centrifuges, which can create bomb materials.

"Iran has been threatened by some Israeli officials. It's very natural that when our country is being threatened by a foreign country we have to prepare ourselves," Rowhani told a news conference.

"But Iran is totally opposed to weapons of mass destruction. The accusations and allegations raised by some of the countries against the Islamic Republic of Iran -- all of them are totally baseless and unfounded," he said during a visit to Australia's capital, Canberra.

Middle East media have speculated that Israel might try to halt Iran's nuclear programme by carrying out air strikes on some atomic facilities in Iran. Iranian officials have said Tehran would retaliate promptly and strongly to any such attack.

The United States has been pressing the 35-nation International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council for hiding its uranium enrichment programme from the IAEA for nearly two decades.

But Rowhani said Iran did not feel threatened by the United States, which led the invasion of Iraq last year in a bid to find weapons of mass destruction. These have not been unearthed.

He said the United States was now struggling to stop Iraq from spiralling into anarchy.

"I think the experience of Iraq would be sufficient for the Americans for years to come not to think of invasion against any other country," said Rowhani.

During his three-day visit, Rowhani met Australian Prime Minister John Howard -- a staunch ally of U.S. President George W. Bush -- and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who urged Iran to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

"We are going to continue with our cooperation with the IAEA," Rowhani said.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is fully committed to all disarmament treaties and conventions. At the same time we have also our determination for the applications of nuclear technology for peaceful objectives," he said.