TEHRAN — Iran yesterday said it had successfully test-fired three long-range missiles near a key oil shipping route, as new US sanctions imposed over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions sent its currency into a nose dive.
Tehran has warned it could shut the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of the world’s oil is shipped, if sanctions are imposed on its crude exports.
The launch of the missiles took place on the final day of war games in waters east of the strait at the entrance to the Persian Gulf, a navy spokesman, Commodore Mahmoud Mousavi, was quoted as saying by official media.
The last of the weapons was launched late yesterday and successfully destroyed its target, the IRNA news agency reported.
Earlier yesterday, Mousavi confirmed that two missiles were successfully fired. The longest range of the missiles tested yesterday had a range of some 120 miles, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
The United States, which keeps its Fifth Fleet based in the Gulf, has warned it will not tolerate a closure of the strait.
Iran said yesterday it had no intention to close the strait, but had carried out “mock” exercises on shutting it.
On Sunday, a medium-range surface-to-air missile was also test-fired during the exercises, according to Mousavi.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said yesterday that Iran’s war games were a sign of “distress” in the face of tightening Western sanctions.
Western powers have imposed the sanctions to punish Iran for maintaining a nuclear program they believe is aimed at developing weapons.
Iran’s currency was showing the impact of the sanctions, slumping more than 12 percent in street trading yesterday, accelerating a slide triggered over the weekend when the United States activated new sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear drive.
The European Union is considering an embargo on Iranian oil imports.
Yesterday’s show of force also follows the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization’s announcement Sunday that its scientists “tested the first nuclear fuel rod produced from uranium ore deposits inside the country.”
The statement suggested Iran had made progress in becoming a self-sufficient nuclear nation and had technological prowess the West thought it lacked.