Iran to unveil "advanced" cruise missile

A senior Iranian defense ministry official announced Sunday that his ministry plans to unveil a highly advanced cruise missile, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. "God willing, Meshkat (Lantern) cruise missile with a range of 2,000 km will be unveiled in the near future," Deputy Defense Minister and head of the ministry's Aerospace Organization General Mehdi Farahi told Fars on Sunday. "Meshkat Cruise Missile can be fired from land, air and sea," Farahi was quoted as saying. According to the report, Iran's former cruise missile can travel a distance of no more than 300 km. In August, Iranian defense minister announced that Iran had " successfully" test-fired a 300 km-range missile. In July, the Iranian Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) staged a three-day missile drill and its aerospace division commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh said in the drill, dubbed "Great Prophet 7," more than 100 hypothesized spots in the central desert region of the country were targeted by various kinds of missiles. Hajizadeh said that Iran's missiles could hit the U.S. military bases in the regional countries. He said that all the U.S. bases in the region were within the reach of Iran's missiles and Iranian missiles could also easily reach Israel. Iranian commanders have warned that Iran would give firm response to any military attack against the country.