Special report: Iran Nuclear Crisis 

Israel's Arrow II anti-missile system is test-fired near the Tel Aviv beach in this picture released by Israel's Aircraft Industries February 11, 2007. Israel on Sunday successfully conducted a new test of its Arrow anti-missile system, the country's main bulwark against a possible attack by Iran's long-range weapons, Israel's Defence Minister Amir Peretz said. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    JERUSALEM, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- A senior official of the Israeli Defense Ministry has said that the successful test firing of the Arrow missile shows that Israel can now defend itself against an Iranian nuclear missile threat, local media reported on Monday.

    "The test proves that Israel is prepared to deal with a missileattack from Iran, including a nuclear one," Lieutenant Colonel Moshe Fattal, coordinator of the Defense Ministry responsible for the project, was quoted by the Ha'aretz daily as saying.

    "The missile is capable of dealing with future Syrian and Iranian threats as we see them, as of now. I believe that the citizens of Israel can sleep peacefully," he said.

    But an unnamed defense official claimed that "there is no significance to the results of the test."

    The Israeli army successfully conducted its first nighttime trial of an anti-missile system Sunday night.

    This was the 15th test of Arrow, an anti-missile system jointlydeveloped by Israel and the United States to intercept medium and long-range ballistic missiles.

    The Israeli Defense Ministry said that the purpose of the trialwas "to study and improve the operational capabilities of the system, which include expansion of the interceptor envelope against future targets that might threaten Israel."

Related: Israel tests 1st nighttime anti-missile system 

    BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Israeli army successfully conducted its first nighttime trial of an anti-missile system Sunday night, local media quoted a senior official as saying.

    This is the 15th test of Arrow, an anti-missile system developed jointly by Israel and the United States to intercept medium and long-range ballistic missiles.

Israel TV noted that Iran has deployed missiles with a range to reach Israel and is working on a nuclear program that Israel and the United States suspect is meant to produce atomic bombs.

    However, Moshe Fattal, the coordinator of the Defense Ministry administration that was in charge of the project, said there was no connection with the Iranian event.