Iran's nuclear program is at an early stage. Even Israeli officials said they did not regard the test as an immediate threat, although they expressed concern about its long-term implications. But the very fact of the test launch of long-range missiles by Iran is grave and constitutes an acute threat that is developing in the Middle East. At this stage, Iran's motives appear to be defensive, U.S. and Israeli experts said. It is not believed to have any active targets in mind, and there have been no diplomatic crises since Iran's new reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, undertook a policy of rapprochement with his Gulf neighbors.
Missiles are first of all a deterrent.
After a devastating eight-year war with Iraq in the 1980s, when Iraqi Scud missiles rained on Iranian cities and chemical weapons were used on Iranian civilians, Tehran has sought to develop weapons to discourage use of the deadliest arms by its neighbors. Iran feels vulnerable because it has been the target of aggression. Mayor's sentence is more troubling The Clinton administration, for its part, appeared more alarmed by internal political developments in Iran than by the missile test. U.S. officials and Iran experts expressed concern about what they viewed as the severe sentence imposed on the Tehran mayor, a Khatami ally convicted of corruption. The sentence, U.S. officials said, appeared to signal widespread opposition by religious conservatives to the policies advocated by Khatami's moderate government.