Yesterday, Lt. General Henry Obering, director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, noted that Iran is accelerating its efforts to build long-range missiles. “They’re developing ranges of missiles that go far beyond anything they would need in a regional fight, for example, with Israel,” he said.

If Obering is correct, then the National Intelligence Estimate, which concluded that Iran ended its nuclear weapons program in late 2003, is almost certainly wrong—nations do not build missiles of this sort to deliver conventional explosives. Obering was in Prague to convince the Czechs and the Poles to host missile-defense interceptors and radars. So is the Pentagon hyping the threat from Iran to promote its program?

It’s time to go to the videotape. In September, Tehran unveiled the Ghadr-1, which has a range of 1,125 miles. At the end of November, it announced the Ashoura, a new model with a 1,250-mile range. The Ashoura appears to be an improvement over Iran’s Shahab-3, and the country is rumored to be working on even longer-range missiles. Tehran, therefore, seems intent on proving Obering correct.

Iran’s zeal in developing long-range missiles is matched only by its efforts to end the international community’s investigation of its nuclear efforts. Earlier this month, Tehran said its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, had entered a “new phase.” At about the same time, the Iranians pointed out that their cooperation with the IAEA would show that Western suspicions that they are covertly building a bomb are “baseless.” And a few days later, on Sunday, the IAEA announced that Tehran had pledged to answer all remaining questions about its nuclear program within a month. This is a repeat of its now-forgotten promise made last August to respond to all inquiries.

So Iran is once again confirming that it is not building the only weapon suitable for the missiles it is developing at a break-neck pace. I feel so relieved. How about you?