The media is currently in the process of spinning out an almost entirely fake story about Iranian nuclear missiles. Let's follow the story and see if it has any substance.
The beginning.
In Forbes, just to choose one:
Iran successfully test-fired a missile that can avoid radar and hit several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads, the military said Friday.
This rather implausible claim comes straight from the Revolutionary Guard of Iran. A responsible media might point out that the Revolutionary Guard has a history of exaggerating its own strength, but at least any lie here comes from the Gaurd, not from the media directly.
But we move on. From the same article:
But state-run television described the weapon as "ballistic" - suggesting it's of comparable range to Iran's existing ballistic rocket, which can travel 1,250 miles and reach arch-foe Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East.
Wow! We know nothing about the missile, except state-run television called it "ballistic." Now, ballistic just means it operates under the force of gravity (it's basically any missile that isn't guided through its course). But, from that one word on television, western media pretends this missile can travel 1,250 miles, threatening American troops and Israel.
Further, the story goes:
The existing rocket is the Shahab-3, which means "shooting star," and also is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
So now we have the suggestion that this could be a nuclear missile. The two problems, however, are:
1) There is no evidence that this missile is anything like the Shahab, and
2) There is no evidence that the Shahab can carry a nuclear warhead. Absolutely none. In fact, estimation from armscontrolwonk.org, just based on the size of the missile, suggest that the Shahab cannot carry such a warhead.
However, none of this stopped CBS from taking the story to it's logical conclusion:
Iran's Nuke Test Success Sparks Worry
Iran's successful test of a nuclear-capable missile demonstrates its "very active and aggressive military program" that is worrisome to the world, the State Department said Friday.
Yep, from a single word on a television show, we have extrapolated proof beyond question that Iran has a nuclear missile.
Oh, by the way, the original story contained an interesting tidbit:
It showed a clip of the launch of what it called the Fajr-3, with "fajr" meaning "victory" in Farsi.
The Fajr-3?
This is not a new missile. A simple internet search turns up the following:
The Fajr-3 is a 5.2 meter long, solid-fuel rocket supplied by Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The rocket has a diameter of .24 meters, a weight of 407 kilograms and carries a 45 kilogram warhead up to 43 kilometers. The Fajr-3 produced in Iran, starting in March 1990, is based upon a rocket exported to Iran by North Korea in the late 1980s.
Or, alternately:
The 240-millimeter Fajr-3 missile has a range of some 25 miles, and the 333-millimeter Fajr-5 missile has a range of about 45 miles. Production of the Fajr-3 missile, with an estimated range of 45 km, was estimated to have started in 1991.
So, this new nuclear missile with a 1,250 mile range is in fact an Iranian artillery rocket that has been around for 15 years. It has a range of 25 miles and a warhead of almost 100 pounds (note by comparison, the US Air Force considers a small bomb to be 500 pounds).
Iran claims now to have given these missiles pinpoint accuracy (maybe), some stealth characteristics (could happen), and defense-dodging ability (highly unlikely). They also claim to to be able to hit "multiple targets." They US media conveniently interpreted this as a long-range ballistic missile with multiple warheads. However, I can find no quote from Iran about multiple warheads, only multiple targets. The Fajr-3 is based off of the old Soviet Katyusha rocket system. Katyusha were usually fired as batteries, with dozens of missiles at once. Iran has apparently duplicated this feature, allowing it to fire dozens of its own artillery rockets at one time. That is their great technical innovation.
Thus, to conclude: Iran has made minor technical advances that improve the effectiveness of it's 25-mile ranged, 100 pound-warhead artillery rocket. The US media, on the other hand, reports, "Iran's Nuke Test Success Sparks Worry."
And so the question is, are the media simply negligent dupes, or are they actively promoting war with Iran in conscious disregard of the facts?