You know it’s going to be one of those Mondays when Iranian nutters claim that they successfully tested the Shahab-3—their first multi-stage missile, capable of reaching Europe. Even worse: The multi-stage opens the door for Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles.

At least, that’s what the theory is. Iran says that the missile can reach 2000km, which is enough to hit Israel, NATO-member Turkey, India, China, and some parts of Greece and the former Yugoslavia. According to Western military experts, however, the Shahab-3’s range may be only 1300km. The same experts also say that there may be a 2500km range version, which could easily reach many countries in Europe.

The worrying part about all this is that the Iranians have now a working, solid-state, multi-stage missile. This means that even longer-range variants of the Shahab-3 are only a matter of time. Eventually, it will become a full Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles capable of hitting anywhere in the world. [BBC News]