Revolutionary Guards claim weapon can destroy any vessel within a range of 300 kilometers.
By AP, JPOST STAFF
Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted the chief of the elite Revolutionary Guards on Monday as saying that Iran has tested a new marine weapon.
The commander, Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, said the new weapon was "unique in the world" and has a range of 300 kilometers, or 186 miles.
Monday's report provided no further details and didn't say when or where the weapon was tested. But it also quoted Jafari as saying there is "no similar weapon in the service of armies in the world."
In July, the Guards test fired missiles and torpedoes in the Persian Gulf, and Teheran claimed it tested a new Shahab missile with a range of 2,012 kilometers, or 1,250 miles.
The alleged new weapon's range indicates it may be some type of torpedo.
The announcement came two days after the deadline expired for an Iranian response to a package of incentives offered by six world powers in the standoff over Teheran's nuclear ambitions.
On July 19 the UN Security Council's five permanent members, plus Germany, set Iran an informal two-week deadline to show it is willing to stop expanding its uranium enrichment program - at least temporarily - in exchange for a UN commitment to stop seeking new sanctions.
The UN Security Council has slapped three sets of sanctions on Iran over its enrichment and reprocessing of uranium, which can produce the ingredients for a nuclear bomb. Teheran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.