It looks like Iran is sending a message to incoming US President Barack Obama:

Iran test-fired a new generation surface-to-surface missile on Wednesday, state media said, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeated once again that the Islamic Republic would crush any power acting against it.

Iran’s latest missile test followed persistent speculation in recent months of possible U.S. or Israeli strikes against its nuclear facilities, which the West suspects form part of a covert weapons program. Tehran denies the charge.

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, like outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush, has not ruled out military action although he has criticized the Bush administration for not pushing for more diplomacy and engagement with Tehran.

Iran’s Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said the Iranian-made missile named Sejil had “extremely high capabilities”, had a range of close to 2,000 km (1,200 miles), and was only intended for defensive purposes.

“This missile test is in the framework of Iran’s deterrent doctrine,” the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying, adding it had no connection with recent international events.

Iran’s English-language Press TV said the Sejil missile had two stages, was of a type that used combined solid fuel and showed the Islamic state’s capability to “defend its soil”.

A missile was shown soaring from a platform in desert-like terrain, leaving a long vapour trail.

It came a day after media said the Revolutionary Guards had test-fired another missile called Samen near the Iraqi border.

“They do it (such tests) all the time. It’s Iranian machismo,” said Tim Ripley, an analyst at Jane’s Defense Weekly.  [Reuters]