It came as in Iran pressure was also mounting on Christians amid fresh reports Wednesday, July 9, that Iranian authorities detained two converts to Christianity in the southern city of Shiraz for eight weeks on suspicion of "apostasy," or leaving Islam. Christians have often been accused of harboring a Western and pro-American religion.
Speaking in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, Rice reacted to Arabic news reports that the Shahab-3 missile, which could reach Israel, was among nine fired from an undisclosed location in the Iranian desert.
Iranian television reported air force commander General Hossein Salami said the missile aunch was part of an exercise that would demonstrate "our resolve and might against enemies who in recent weeks have threatened Iran with harsh language."
The test followed Rice signing an agreement Tuesday, July 8, in the Czech Republic on a radar station that will be part of a defense system Washington says it wants to build to counter missiles from countries such as Iran.
RESOLVE REMAINS
Rice said after the signing ceremony that while President George W. Bush is in the waning days of his presidency, she expects any future president to continue the missile-defense program. "We face with the Iranians, and so do our allies and friends, a growing missile threat that is getting ever longer and ever deeper – and where the Iranian appetite for nuclear technology is, to this point, still unchecked," she said.
"And it is hard for me to believe that an American president is not going to want to have the capability to defend our territory and the territory of our allies, whether they are in Europe or whether they are in the Middle East against that kind of missile threat," Rice added.
Rice told reporters in Sofia the latest Iranian missile test shows that action has to be taken as the threat posed by the Islamic republic is not "imaginary." She said in a statement the Iranians should "stop violating their U.N. Security Council obligations and start fulfilling them."
ISRAELI GOVERNMENT
Following the tests, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said "Israel does not threaten Iran, but the Iranian nuclear program, combined with "their aggressive ballistic missile program, is a matter of grave concern."
The growing hostility was also expected to put increasing pressure on religious minorities especially concerts to Christianity and Jewish people in the country, as authorities seek scape coats, according to a BosNewsLife analyse.
In Iran, apostasy is a crime that can be punishable by death. Converts Mahmood Matin, 52, and Arash Bandari, 44, remain imprisoned in a secret police detention center in the center of the Shiraz, the fifth most populated city in Iran, since their arrest on May 15.
CHRISTIAN CONVERTS
Matin and Bandari were detained with 13 other Muslim converts to Christianity while meeting together in a park in the town of Shiraz, Christians said. Most have been released but were told they have an ongoing case against them, though officials have reportedly not informed them of the charges.
The US Secretary of State has expressed concerns over religious rights violations in Iran. While Rice did not mention the reported religious rights violations, she made clear the "Iranian regime" should not be allowed to develop potential nuclear weapons, which would allow it to increase its influence beyond its borders.
She spoke in Bulgaria where she received that country’s highest honor for her help in securing Libya’s release of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor last year. They were detained in 1999, and twice sentenced to death for allegedly infecting children with AIDS, despite testimonies from experts that the children – 50 of whom died – were infected by unhygienic conditions at the hospital.
RICE ROLE
While Rice played less of a public role than several other international figures in winning their release, Libya eventually agreed to free them, in part, to improve its relationship with the United States.
Bulgaria, a former Warsaw Pact country that joined NATO in 2004, has also supported the U.S.-led military campaign in Iraq by sending troops to the multi-national coalition forces.
In addition it signed a 10-year deal allowing American troops to be deployed in Bulgarian military facilities. The agreement is part of a NATO strategy to shift forces further east to small, flexible bases closer to potential hotspots in the Middle East. (BosNewsLife’s NEWS WATCH is a regular look at stories impacting the Church and compassionate professionals. Part of this BosNewsLife NEWS story also airs on the Voice Of America (VOA) network via www.voanews.com).
