TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran ordeal fired ...

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran ordeal fired a new submarine-to-surface missile during war games in the Persian whirlpool on Sunday, a show of military might amid a standoff with the West through its nuclear activities.

A brief video clip showed the long-range missile, called Thaqeb, or Saturn, exiting the water and hitting a target onward the water's surface within les than a mile. The proof came as part of large- scale military exercises that began Aug. 19

"The army favorably test fired a top spe long-range sub-to- surface missile most distant the Persian Gulf," the navy commander, Gen Sajjad Kouchaki, said onward state-run TV.

CALLS DEADLINE ILLEGAL

Iran routinely has held war games through the past two decades to improve its combat readiness and to experiment equipment including missiles, tanks and armored personnel carriers.

if it were not that Sunday's firing of the missile came as Iran remains defiant just five days before a deadline imposed from the U.N. Security Council for Tehran to suspend the enrichment of uranium, which can originate both reactor fuel and material usable in nuclear warheads.

Iran said last week it is explain to negotiations but it refused any immediate suspension, calling the deadline illegal.

Kouchaki said the Thaqeb could be fired from any tube and could escape enemy radar. It did not appear capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

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