We're warning you!

[sensitiveguy]

BREAKING NEWS — Iran test-fired more long-range missiles Thursday in a second day of exercises aimed at showing the country can defend itself against any attack by the U.S. or Israel, state television reported.

The weapons fired overnight have "special capabilities" and included missiles launched from naval ships in the Persian Gulf, as well as torpedoes and surface-to-surface missiles, the broadcast said. It did not elaborate.

A brief video clip showed two missiles being fired simultaneously in darkness.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran that Washington will not back down in the face of threats against Israel.

"We are sending a message to Iran that we will defend American interests and the interests of our allies," Rice said Thursday in Georgia at the close of a three-day Eastern European trip.

Rice noted U.S. efforts to increase its own security presence in the Persian Gulf and the defense capabilities of U.S. allies there.

"We take very very strongly our obligations to help our allies defend themselves and no one should be confused about that," she said.

Rice tied the latest Iranian missile test and rhetoric to U.S. plans for a future missile shield, which would theoretically protect Eastern Europe from missiles launched from Iran.

The system would place radar interceptors in the Czech Republic, a former Soviet satellite, and missiles in Poland. That has drawn protests from Russia, who says that's uncomfortably close.

Such a missile defense system "will make it more difficult for Iran to threaten and ... say terrible things, because their missiles won't work," Rice said.

Among the missiles Iran said it tested Wednesday was a new version of the Shahab-3, which officials have said has a range of 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) and is armed with a 1-ton conventional warhead.

That would put Israel, Turkey, the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan and Pakistan all within striking distance.

Wednesday's missile tests were conducted at the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which about 40 percent of the world's oil passes. Iran has threatened to shut down traffic in the strait if attacked.

Oil prices jumped on news of Wednesday's tests, rising US$1.44 to US$137.48 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

[sensitiveguy]

All of this as we get closer and closer to Election Day.

[angeladc]

i actually feel sorry for both candidates because they have to deal with so much starting off.

[TUCKER]

All this from an area of the world that has no weapons of mass destruction. Boy, do I feel safer now!

[cc5k]

I obtained a photo of the launch site: