Anti-ship missile traced to Iran

WASHINGTON, July 19 (UPI) -- A shore-to-ship missile that hit and damaged an Israeli warship last week has been traced to Iran, a report said.

The New York Daily News, quoting a U.S. intelligence source, reported the sophisticated low-flying, anti-ship rocket was an Iranian C-802 Noor missile which no one expected the Hezbollah would have.

"There was no prior warning," defense analyst John Pike with GlobalSecurity.org told the newspaper. "It was completely outside of what you would expect from Hezbollah." The report said the incident is yet another example of how much the Hezbollah's arms buildup has increased, perhaps with Iran's help, in the past six years of relative quiet with Israel.

The attack on the Israeli missile boat Hanit last Friday killed four sailors.

The report said the missile may have been one from China that Iran purchased in the 1990s or from a batch that Iran made with North Korea.