Iran starts anti-missile cannons' production

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran launched on Sunday a production line for manufacturing cannons for warships which can be used against cruise missiles, the Fars news agency reported.
The final range of the 40-millimetre naval cannon, named Fatah (victory), is 12km and it shoots 300 projectiles per minute, Defence Minister Mohammad Mostafa Najjar said in a statement reported by Fars.
It can be used against cruise missiles ... It is an anti-aircraft low-altitude weapon for use on warships, he said, adding that it was being entirely built by Iranians.
Iran has boasted in the past of developing new weapons systems only for its claims to be met with scepticism by Western defence analysts.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced on Wednesday that Iran had successfully test-fired a new medium-range missile, named Sejil-2, drawing a warning from Israel that Europe too should now worry about the Islamic republics ballistic programme.
Meanwhile, Irans former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezai warned on Sunday he could stop Israel with one strike and said it would not dare to threaten the Islamic republic if he is elected president. My government... understands missiles and tanks as well as foreign policy and knows exactly where Israels sensitive spots are. It could stop them forever with one strike, Rezai told a news conference.
If government falls into our hands Israel will not dare threaten Iran because the Israelis and the Americans know us and our friends, said Rezai, who is one of three candidates challenging President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June 12 election.
Our presence in government will act as a deterrent to threats, said the veteran conservative who headed the elite Guards force for 16 years to 1997, including during Irans war with Iraq in the 1980s.
Rezai has harshly criticised President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, accusing him of adventurism and pushing Iran to the edge of a precipice.
His comments came after an opinion poll by Tel Aviv University showed one in two Israelis back an immediate attack on the nuclear facilities of Iran but the rest want to wait and see the results of US diplomacy.
Fifty-one per cent support an immediate Israeli strike on Irans nuclear sites, while 49pc believe the Jewish state should await the outcome of efforts by the US administration to engage with the Islamic republic, said the survey published by Tel Aviv University.
But 74pc of those questioned said they believe that new US President Barack Obamas efforts will not stop the Islamic republic from acquiring atomic weapons.
Israel and Washington accuse Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme, a charge Tehran has repeatedly denied.
Opinion is split among left- and right-wingers about whether to attack Irans nuclear sites, with 63pc of those leaning to the right favouring a strike, compared with 38pc of those leaning to the left, the poll said.
It was carried out by Tel Aviv Universitys Centre for Iranian Studies among 509 Israeli adults and had a 4.5-per cent margin of error.