Iran Unveils New Naval Ballistic Missile

Iranian officials check the Zolfaghar Basir installed on a launcher truck during the inauguration of Tehran's National Aerospace Park on Sunday. Tasnim
Iranian officials check the Zolfaghar Basir installed on a launcher truck during the inauguration of Tehran's National Aerospace Park on Sunday. Tasnim
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Iran Unveils New Naval Ballistic Missile

Iranian officials check the Zolfaghar Basir installed on a launcher truck during the inauguration of Tehran's National Aerospace Park on Sunday. Tasnim
Iranian officials check the Zolfaghar Basir installed on a launcher truck during the inauguration of Tehran's National Aerospace Park on Sunday. Tasnim

Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Sunday unveiled a new naval ballistic missile with a potential range of over 700 kilometers, local media reported.

The missile, dubbed "Zolfaghar Basir", is the naval variant of the surface-to-surface Zolfaghar ballistic missile, according to Tasnim news agency.

Its range is more than twice that of Iran’s other naval missiles, including the "Hormuz-2", with a range of 300 kilometers, which Tehran said it successfully tested in March 2017.

Tasnim did not specify whether or not the new missile has been tested yet.

Images published by Tasnim showed the Zolfaghar Basir installed on a launcher truck during the inauguration of Tehran's National Aerospace Park on Sunday.

"This exhibition shows the comprehensive plan of the deterrent power of (Iran's) system," Guards commander Major General Hossein Salami said at the inauguration, according to Tasnim.

The unveiling of the Zolfaghar Basir comes more than a week after an American aircraft carrier crossed the strategic Strait of Hormuz, and days after the Guards opened a new naval base near the waterway.

Tensions have soared between Washington and Tehran under US President Donald Trump, who pulled out of a landmark 2015 nuclear accord and unilaterally reimposed sanctions on Iran.



New Hampshire Hamlet Tied in First US Election Day Votes

Ballots are counted in the US election at midnight in the living room of the Tillotson House at the Balsams Grand Resort, marking the first votes in the US election, in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
Ballots are counted in the US election at midnight in the living room of the Tillotson House at the Balsams Grand Resort, marking the first votes in the US election, in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
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New Hampshire Hamlet Tied in First US Election Day Votes

Ballots are counted in the US election at midnight in the living room of the Tillotson House at the Balsams Grand Resort, marking the first votes in the US election, in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
Ballots are counted in the US election at midnight in the living room of the Tillotson House at the Balsams Grand Resort, marking the first votes in the US election, in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire on November 5, 2024. (AFP)

Voters in the US hamlet of Dixville Notch launched Election Day in the first minutes of Tuesday with a tied vote, mirroring the incredibly close national polls in the White House race.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump each got three ballots in the tiny community in the northeastern state of New Hampshire which for decades has kicked off Election Day at the stroke of midnight Monday -- hours before the rest of the country's polling stations open.

The Democratic vice president and Republican ex-president have been battling in a tense and exceptionally close race, with opinion polls largely tied.

To a gathered crowd of journalists, the vote opened with a rendition of the US national anthem performed on an accordion.

Electoral laws in New Hampshire allow municipalities with fewer than 100 residents to open their polling stations at midnight and to close them when all registered voters have fulfilled their civic duty.

Dixville Notch's residents voted unanimously for then candidate Joe Biden in 2020, reportedly only the second presidential hopeful to get all the votes since the midnight voting tradition began in 1960.

Most polling stations on the East Coast will open at 6:00 or 7:00 am (1100 or 1200 GMT) on Tuesday.

Dixville Notch voters handed a surprise unanimous victory to Republican White House hopeful Nikki Haley in New Hampshire's primary in January.

Haley ultimately quit the race due to an insurmountable Trump lead -- but Tuesday's vote shows that three voters opted not to back the billionaire in the general election.