Iran tested two long-range missiles on Monday, state television reported.

Published: 9:35AM BST 28 Sep 2009

The country's elite Revolutionary Guards test-fired its two-stage
long-range Sejil missile, the Fars news agency and English-language
Press TV channel said.

"For the first time the Guards tested the Sejil, a two-stage missile
powered by solid fuel, in a missile manoeuvre," Fars said.

The Guards' air force commander Hossein Salami was quoted by Press TV as
saying that the force test-fired the Sejil along with the other
long-range Shahab-3 missile.

Tehran also tested a number of short- and medium-range missiles on
Sunday and said its second uranium enrichment plant, revealed to the
world last week, was ready to withstand any attack. The US, UK and
others have said the plant was part of Iran's covert plans to build
nuclear weapons in defiance of international agreements and contrary to
Iran's assertion that its nuclear programme was for civilian purposes
only. Tehran will be pressed at a crucial meeting in Geneva this week to
open up its nuclear programme or face the prospect of crippling sanctions.

Israel has also threatened air strikes to prevent Iran acquiring a
nuclear warhead but General Hossein Salami, head of Iran's Revolutionary
Guard Air Force, said: "We are going to respond to any military action
in a crushing manner and it doesn't make any difference which country or
regime has launched the aggression."

In fact, both the American and Israeli governments seemed over the
weekend to play down the likelihood of an imminent air strike.

Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, said military action could only
delay Iran's development of nuclear weapons.

"The reality is, there is no military option that does anything more
than buy time," he told CNN. Mr Gates, who served in the previous
administration of George W Bush, has already put himself at odds with
hawks such as Dick Cheney, the former vice-president, who have argued in
favour of prompt use of force against Iran.

Mr Gates also said yesterday that Iran had not made a formal decision to
go ahead with nuclear weapons, again suggesting there was leeway for a
diplomatic solution.

"My personal opinion is that the Iranians have the intention of having
nuclear weapons," he said. "I think the question of whether they have
made a formal decision to move towards the development of nuclear
weapons is in doubt."

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has been making
telephone calls to US Congressional leaders to urge tough sanctions,
implying that he too has been putting his weight behind diplomatic
measures for now.

Attention in Washington is focused on the response the Iranian regime
will make at its meeting in Geneva on Thursday with the "P5 plus one"
group – the five permanent members of the United Nations Security
Council and Germany.

The uranium enrichment plant's existence was confirmed by Iran to the
International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday after it became clear that
its discovery by western intelligence agencies was about to be made
public. Any hope Tehran had of refusing to discuss its nuclear programme
during the talks this week has disappeared.

The US said its negotiators would be demanding "full and unfettered
access" to the new plant.

The Iranians have promised to allow access to IAEA inspectors, but they
will need also to make clear commitments to open up its wider nuclear
programme to avoid American insistence on more sanctions.

The views of Russia and China are crucial. In the past they have opposed
further sanctions but may now feel obliged to take action.

Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, said unless Iran showed a change of
heart attention would turn to "exploring how you broaden and deepen
sanctions".

"Sanctions are already in place... but like many sanction regimes
they're leaky," she said, in what could be interpreted as criticism of
China. Chinese state-owned companies have been repeatedly accused by the
US of circumventing sanctions.

Senior Iranian representatives did little to disguise their displeasure
at the apparent propaganda coup achieved by the United States, Britain
and other western powers in forcing them to reveal the nuclear facility.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the IAEA, accused Western leaders
of being ignorant of international law in their criticism of Iran over
the plant. "This approach will have a negative impact on Iran's
negotiations with the 5+1 countries," he said.

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