JERUSALEM (JTA) — Iran test fired a new medium-range missile that can reach Israel and southeastern Europe, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced.
The Iranian president said during a speech on Wednesday that the surface-to-surface missile named Sejil-2, a term from the Koran, reached its intended target. Experts believe the new missile has a range of about 1,200 miles.
The original Sejil missile was test fired in November, 2008. At the time the defense minister said it had a range of 1,350 miles.
Ahmadinejad said during his speech in Semnan, the city about 100 miles from Tehran that is home to the Iranian space program, that Iran would not back off its work on a nuclear program.
"They thought we would retreat but that will not happen," he said of the Western countries who want to see an end to the program. "I told them you can adopt 100 sets of sanctions, but nothing will change."
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