Iran’s Army continues to improve the accuracy and killing power of its long-range and short-range ballistic missiles, including designing a weapon to target vessels, an Israeli online news website reported citing a report by the Pentagon submitted to the Congress.

Israel’s Ynet cited the June 29 report, released by Bloomberg News, which was signed by U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, as stating that Tehran “has boosted the lethality and effectiveness of existing systems by improving accuracy and developing new sub-munition payloads” that extend the destructive power over a broader area than a solid warhead.

The report mentioned that the Iranian improvements were in tandem with routine ballistic-missile training that “continues throughout the country” and the addition of “new ships and submarines.”

The report reiterated that Iran with “sufficient foreign assistance may be technically capable of flight-testing” an intercontinental ballistic missile by 2015.

The report also claimed that Iran is continuing to develop ballistic missiles capable of reaching as far as Israel and Eastern Europe.

Ynet mentioned that the Pentagon’s report predicted that Tehran “would present a formidable force while defending Iranian territory.”

The report also revealed that Tehran is looking to improve its missile counter-measures against U.S. and Gulf Cooperation Council missile defenses and poses a potential new threat to Gulf shipping.

“This technology also may be capable of striking land-based targets,” the Pentagon’s report said.

 

Source: Ynet; Bloomberg News