Iran attempted to deceive the world with last week's high-profile weapons test by claiming that a 10-year-old missile was a new, longer-range version capable of striking Israel, US intelligence officials and independent analysts believe.
Analysis of Iranian television coverage has also indicated that one of the weapons actually remained on the ground but the video was doctored in an effort to cover up the failure.
The tests were the latest escalation in muscle-flexing between Iran and Israel as the threat of war grows over the Islamic regime's nuclear ambitions.
Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, is to urge the Bush administration to adopt a tougher line against Iran and will try to persuade the American public of the need for military action during a three-day visit to Washington this week, a former top adviser said.
Iran claimed last week to have tested a new version of the Shahab missile with a 1,250-mile range that would put in range much of the Middle East, including Israel and Turkey and the Arabian peninsula, and Pakistan.However, a respected independent national security website, ArmsControlWonk.com, concluded that the missiles were identical to an earlier version of the Shahab, first unveiled by Iran in 1998 with a known range of 746 miles.
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