Tehran, July 07: Iran has conducted a final test of its Shahab-3 ballistic missile, the Iranian foreign ministry said today, confirming that arch-enemy Israel was now well within range of the Islamic republic's armed forces. "The test took place several weeks ago. The range of the missile is what we declared before," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters, adding the test was the final one before the missile is handed over for operation by the country's army.

Officials here have previously said the missile has a range of 1,300 kilometres. Asefi was reacting to a report in the Israeli Haaretz newspaper last week which said Iran had conducted the test just over a week ago and was now capable of hitting the Jewish state, American forces in the Gulf or the Indian subcontinent.

"This is nothing new," Asefi said. "Apparently the Israelis are a bit late with their information."

Bureau Report