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Al-Qaeda Draws New Recruits Via Internet Al-Qaeda is using the Internet to recruit vulnerable young people to its terrorist network, according to a programme aired on Saudi Arabian TV late on Tuesday. Umm Osama, the founder of al-Qaeda's first women-only website, al-Khansa, joined several others on the programme to discuss how they renounced jihadist ideology. Among those who sought a response to this question was an imam from the Medina mosque, Saleh Ibn Awad al-Mudamsi, and the father of a young al-Qaeda suspect held in an Iraqi prison. Read More Qaeda Targets U.S. Oil Interests in North Africa U.S....

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran test fired nine long- and medium-range missiles on Wednesday, state media said, including one which it has said could reach Israel and U.S. bases in the region. The tests occurred at a time of increased tension between Iran and Israel over Tehran's nuclear program, which the West fears is aimed at making bombs. Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, says its program is only for electricity. A New York Times report in June said Israel had practiced an attack on Iranian nuclear sites, and the tension has rattled financial markets. U.S. and London Brent crude...

Military operations: Iran carries out shootings of ballistic missiles TEHERAN (Iran) - Iran carried out its first shootings of ballistic missiles Shahab-3 with a load with fragmentation at the beginning of the started operations of scale Thursday morning, brought back Iranian television Al-Alam. "Of the Shahab missiles, with a load with fragmentation, able to have a range of 2.000 km, were drawn from the desert located in approximately of Qom", city located at 120 km in the south of Teheran, brought back television Al-Alam. the General Yahya Rahim Safavi, the commander of the guards of the revolution, the ideological...

Iran launched 'secret' rocket test From correspondents in BerlinFebruary 04, 2006IRAN secretly tested a new surface-to-surface missile (SSM) on January 17, seeking to establish the measurements needed for long-range missiles, the German daily Die Welt reported in its issue to appear today. The test, conducted by members of the Revolutionary Guard led by Yahya Rahim Safavi, was successful, according to Western diplomats cited by the newspaper, which did not indicate the location where the test took place. On January 28, Safavi said that Iran would use its ballistic missiles if it was attacked. "Iran has a ballistic missile with...

Tehran plans a nuclear weapons test before March 20, 2006 – the Iranian New Year, moves Shahab-3 missiles within striking range of Israel. Reporting this, the dissident Foundation for Democracy in Iran, a US-based watch group, cites sources in the US and Iran. The FDI adds from Iran: on June 16, the high command of the Revolutionary Guards Air Force ordered Shahab-3 missile units to move mobile launchers every 24 hours instead of weekly. This is in view of a potential pre-emptive strike by the US or Israel. Advance Shahab-3 units have been positioned in Kermanshah and Hamad within striking...

Iran has successfully tested surface-to-sea missiles with a range of 110 kilometers (68 miles), Iranian state television reported Monday. The testing of the Silkworm missiles was the most important project of Monday's military maneuvers in southern Iran, the television said. It said the Silkworms have a speed of 290 kilometers (180 miles) per second and a range of 110 kilometers (68 miles). They can detect targets from a distance of 15 kilometers (9 miles) and have the capacity to destroy a warship. The report did not say whether the missiles could carry nuclear warheads. Iran's armed forces began their biggest...

The United States has briefed key nations on intelligence that it says shows Iranian atomic weapons work, namely research on getting a missile warhead to explode at an altitude that would maximize the blast of a nuclear explosion, diplomats and analysts told AFP. However, a non-Western diplomat said the US briefing, carried out in various capitals ahead of a meeting in September of the UN atomic watchdog, "looks plausible but there is no hard evidence," namely direct proof of a nuclear warhead project. Iran says its nuclear program is a strictly peaceful effort to develop atomic power in order...

(CNSNews.com) -- Savoring yet another reprieve in its nuclear standoff with the West, Iran has flexed its muscles with a show of military might and a warning that any nation considering attacking the Islamic republic would face a "destructive and fiery" response. Marking the start of "Sacred Defense Week" -- a commemoration of the 1980 Iraqi invasion which triggered a costly eight-year war -- Iran displayed weaponry Thursday including six Shahab-3 ballistic missiles. Experts say the missiles are capable of reaching Israel as well as U.S. forces in the region. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech that while Iran...

This is a compilation of articles related to the Iran ICBM missile program. Most space magazines and organizations are praising Iran for their efforts to space launch and explorations. This is my attempt to pull the pieces back into context. Shahab-3 / Zelzal-3 Technical Details   Range (km) 1,350-1,500 CEP (m) 190 (Previously thought to beseveral thousand meters) Diam. (m) 1.32-1.35 Height (m) 15.852-16 Launch Weight Mass (kg) 15,852-16,250 Stage Mass (kg) 15,092 Dry Weight Mass (kg) 1,780-2,180 Thrust (Kg f) Effective: 26,051 (-709) Actual: 26,760-26,600 Burn time (sec.) 110 Isp. (sec.) Effective: 226 - SL due to vainssteering drag...

Iran's missiles on a solid footing By David Isenberg WASHINGTON - On May 31, Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani announced that Iran had successfully tested a solid-fuel motor for its medium-range Shahab-3 ballistic missile. Further details of just what was tested remain unclear, but the test is significant because if it truly was successful, it would represent an important breakthrough for the Islamic republic's missile program. To develop a missile with a range greater than 2,000 kilometers - in effect, a two-stage rocket that separates in mid-flight - Iran would need to master the more complex solid-fuel technology. This is...

Iran has confirmed that it successfully test-fired what it calls a "strategic missile" during recent military exercises. Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani told Iranian state media that following the test, the missiles had now been delivered to the armed forces. He did not name the missile or give details of its range. The announcement comes amid tensions over Iran's nuclear programme, which it insists is for peaceful purposes. Power and range "This strategic missile was successfully test-fired during... military exercises by the Revolutionary Guards and delivered to the armed forces," Mr Shamkhani said. He was quoted by Iran's student news agency,...

LONDON, Sep 8 ( IranMania) - Iran said Tuesday it is ready to show off a test of its improved Shahab-3 medium range missile, which is capable of hitting Israel, to "observers" in order to prove it is a success, AFP reported. "The ministry is ready to organise a new test of the Shahab-3 missile in the presence of observers," Defence Minister Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani said in a statement carried by the official news agency IRNA. "The recent test that was carried out was a success." The minister appeared to be reacting to recent foreign press reports that questioned...

Iran is ready to repeat a test of a new version of its Shahab-3 ballistic missile, a weapon Iran maintains it produced in response to Israeli efforts to improve its own missile power and test-fired successfully last month. Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said his employees were ready to test the missile "in the presence of observers," the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. He did not elaborate. In August, the Defense Ministry announced the new version of the Shahab-3 _ which already was capable of reaching Israel and U.S. forces in the Middle East _ had been successfully test-fired. Israeli...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Defense Ministry on Wednesday carried out a field test of the newest version of its Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile, state television reported. Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said earlier this month Iran was working on improvements to the range and accuracy of Shahab-3, which defense experts say Tehran could use to strike arch-foe Israel or U.S. military bases in the Gulf.

Iran put on show its new Shahab-3 ballistic missiles in a military parade, with the rockets sporting slogans including "We will crush America under our feet" and "Israel must be wiped off the map". Seven of the missiles were seen being rolled past a podium of the Islamic republic's leaders on their mobile launchers, the climax of a show of strength held to commemorate the anniversary of the outbreak of the 1980-88 war with Iraq. According to a commentary given over loud-speakers lining the parade route, the missiles have "a range of 1,700 kilometers" (1,060 miles) and "are capable of...