UH OH:Iran 'test-fires medium-range missile' in Gulf - Polidicks

[release] [IMG]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/57645000/jpg/_57645108_miss2.jpg[/IMG] The BBC's Mohsen Asgari reports from Tehran, as pictures from Iranian state TV apparently showed the missile launch [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16377185#story_continues_1"]Continue reading the main story[/URL][h=2]Iran nuclear crisis[/h][URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15983302"]Q&A: Iran sanctions[/URL] [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15648166"]Case against Iran strengthened[/URL] [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15649274"]White House not on war path[/URL] [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11045291"]Fuelling Bushehr[/URL] [B]Iran has successfully test-fired a medium-range surface-to-air missile during military exercises in the Gulf, the official Irna news agency reports.[/B] Iranian naval commander, Mahmoud Mousavi, was quoted as saying the missile was equipped with the "latest technology" and "intelligent systems". The test comes a day after he denied earlier state media reports that Iran had test-fired long-range missiles. He said on Saturday missile launches would take place "in the coming days". Iran's 10 days of naval exercises began last week and are taking place in international waters to the east of the strategic Strait of Hormuz. They come at a time of increased tensions between the West and Iran over its nuclear ambitions. Tehran reacted angrily last week to reports that Western nations were planning to impose further sanctions targeting Iran's oil and financial sectors. [IMG]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/57591000/gif/_57591295_iran_straitofhormuz_dec2011.gif[/IMG] Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, which links the Gulf - and its oil-producing states - to the Indian Ocean. About 20% of the world's oil passes through the narrow strait. The US and its allies believe Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons - a charge Iran denies. Tehran insists its nuclear programme is purely for peaceful purposes. Iran has maintained that it needs nuclear technology to generate electricity to meet growing domestic demand.[/release] [URL]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16377185[/URL]

After reading Foxbat, I no longer trust militarily unstable countries with 'exercises'. This can only go two ways, fizzling out or turning into a full-scale war which blows out of proportion. I hope for the former. -To clarify, I mean a war with Israel which the US is bound to poke its giant naval dick into.

What does "medium range" actually mean, its kinda hard to put it into perspective when you have no idea how far medium/close/long range is.

Oh boy here we go.

[QUOTE=Jsm;33996857]What does "medium range" actually mean, its kinda hard to put it into perspective when you have no idea how far medium/close/long range is.[/QUOTE] Edit: Jsm ruined my shit

[QUOTE=smurfy;33996873]1000 to 3000 km [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medium-range_ballistic_missile]apparently[/url] Presumably these are the missiles they will launch at Israel if it all kicks off[/QUOTE] But those are ICBMs, not surface to air missiles.

I was expecting this. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/QgfuV.jpg[/IMG]

Oh no! SAM's! The USN has been defeated! They never expec- [img]http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/1987/800pxea18gvx31overridge.jpg[/img] -Oh. EA-18 Growler is not impressed. [editline]1st January 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Jsm;33996857]What does "medium range" actually mean, its kinda hard to put it into perspective when you have no idea how far medium/close/long range is.[/QUOTE] My understanding is that medium range is somewhere around the 40 to 50 km mark. Short being more like 15-20. Though I am seeing a huge range of missile ranges possible, so I have no fucking idea anymore. Medium range in the 1960's when a lot of these Russian SAM's were produced is likely a lot different than what we call medium range today, and yet they are both still active. Sooooo who the fuck knows. Perhaps that is the entire point, to intentionally mislead analysts into assuming it has certain capabilities that it may or may not actually have.

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but this looks like the cold war.

Good to see they're finally developing the stuff we had in the 1970s.

And Americans think [I]they[/I] have crazy neighbors. [sp]I'm an American living overseas :P[/sp]

For some reason i think Iran's gonna do something to Iraq for what we did to them in the 80's Just a thought.

Dunno how relevant this is, but... I don't know if Facepunchers are aware of this, but contrary to popular belief, there is in fact a genre of board games called "wargames", which is not Warhammer 40k or any of those silly miniature games. Wargames more awesome and more engrossing than Risk and Axis and Allies. After reading news like these I decided to break out my copy of Gulf Strike. [IMG]http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic147586_md.jpg[/IMG] Old game yes, but it simulates warfare in the Middle East with different scenarios, like what if Iran won the Iran-Iraq War and goes on a conquering spree, or the Soviets going after Iran (and the US helping them), and so on. It even has updated scenarios for the Gulf War. Basically I did a scenario (with updated rules to simulate modern warfare, because after all this game was made in the 1980's) where Iran closes the Straits of Hormuz and lays a bunch of mines in the Straits. The Gulf States (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, etc.), the United States, Kuwait and Iraq all go after Iran, with possible Russian and Pakistani intervention (on either side). The US initially just has ground forces (mostly Marines) in Kuwait and a carrier group with a lot of air forces, so they won't get the hard-hitting stuff like armored brigades and mechanized forces until later. Though they do have some B-52s. A friend of mine played the Iranians. I played three games, and all three times the Iranians ultimately lost but they did some damage to oil fields in Kuwait and northern Saudi Arabia, and the coalition did take some serious damage, though the US forces in Kuwait just got a bloody nose, so to speak. We really just lost aircraft and a few ships were damaged by mines. The Iraqis practically steamrolled into western Iran though (since the Iranian Air Force was either getting shot out of the sky or otherwise diverted to the south), but then they were stopped when they reached the mountains. The Kuwaiti-Saudi Arabian-American forces also ran into some trouble when they went into the mountains, and got as far as Tehran before we called game. The Russians and Pakistanis never intervened (we would roll a political roll at the start of each turn). Not exactly an accurate scenario since we had to convert the game to reflect modern day warfare, and of course this is after all a board game played by two military history nerds. Just wanted to share this since it's sort of relevant...I think. [B]tl;dr: [/B]two people with too much time on their hands tries to simulate conflict in the Persian Gulf Can't wait to play this game though, for obvious reasons :v [IMG]http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic695580.jpg[/IMG]