Iran announced on Tuesday, through its Defense Miniser that it has produced a new type of missile. The so-called Ashoura has a longer range than the previous Iranian missiles and could reach a target at a distance of 1,200 miles, thus making Israel and U.S. bases in the Mideast reachable, the official news agency IRNA reported.

According to Gen. Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, the Defense Minister of the Islamic country, the Ashoura missile was manufactured by industrial units affiliated with the ministry. There was no report whether the projectile was test fired or not.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has never aimed to launch an attack on any country. It will never do so. But if someone wants to invade Iran, they will face a crushing response by the armed forces," was Najjar’s statement regarding the issue.

The Middle Eastern Islamic state was forced to manufacture its own arsenal during the war against Iraq, when a U.S. weapons embargo was imposed. Since 1992, Iran’s plants produced the country’s jet aircraft, missiles, radar-avoiding missiles, tanks and armored personnel carriers. With the tension between Iran and the U.S. regarding the nuclear program growing, Tehran initiated more weapons development programs.

Two months ago, Iran had unveiled the Ghadr-1, another new missile with an estimated range of 1,125 miles (1,800 km), during a military parade. Before that, Tehran also made public the Shahab-3 with a reported range of just 810 miles (1,300 km), but in 2005, Iranian officials said that it could reach targets 2,000 km away after a series of improvements.

Specialists believe Tehran is developing the Shahab-4 missile, which will probably make Iran capable of hitting a big part of Europe.