YNetNews 11 Luglio 2008

Discrepancies between photo, video of Iranian missile test indicate possible attempt to cover up technical difficulties during Persian Gulf exercise

On Thursday evening a senior US officer told CNN that Iranian reports on its missile tests were false. The network quoted him saying that Iran had not conducted trials with long-range missiles, as it had claimed on Wednesday.

The officer said the US believes Iran had fired seven short to medium-range missiles. US intelligence reports stated that one of the missile launches was not successful, and it was fired by the Iranians on Thursday. The Iranian news agency that generally publishes documentation of drills of this sort has not published any new photos from the large-scale launch that was allegedly held by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

The only documentation of the event was published by the Revolutionary Guards' news agency, an irregularity in drills such as this, which are normally covered by nationwide press.

Earlier a Ynet inquiry revealed that the Revolutionary Guards doctored at least one photo of the missile test conducted in the Persian Gulf and "added" at least one missile launching that never took place.

The photos were sent to the news agencies by the Revolutionary Guards and were published by media outlets worldwide, including Israel. In a videotape of the Iranian missile testing, which was shot from a slightly different angle, three missiles can be seen launched, while a fourth remains on the ground.  However, in the still photo all four missiles are seen fired into the air almost simultaneously. Some of the details in the images of the launched missiles are suspiciously similar; the tail of the fourth seems to be an exact copy of the missile on the far left.

Several internet sites also claimed that the missile photos were manipulated by the Iranians in an attempt to cover up possible technical difficulties that arose during the test.

On Thursday state media reported that Iran tested  more missiles "with special capabilities" in the Gulf.

The report said the weapons fired included missiles launched from naval ships in the Persian Gulf, as well as torpedoes and surface-to-surface missiles.

Source >  YNetNews