http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=41760&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs
LONDON, April
5 (IranMania) - Iran said it successfully
test-fired a new land-to-sea missile, the
latest launch in Persian Gulf war games that
have aroused international concern amid
rising tensions over its nuclear programme,
AFP reported.
"The
medium-range Kowsar missile is capable of
combatting electronic jamming systems and it
cannot be thrown off course by any
instruments," state television reported.
It touted the
Kowsar, which means "a spring in heaven" in
Farsi, as a "super-modern" weapon.
Iran
also said it successfully tested a
"domestically developed" hydroplane with the
television showing a small one-pilot craft
flying some 10 metres (30 feet) above the
surface of the water, AFP added.
The
one-propeller craft "is invisible to radar"
and "can carry weapons and aim at various
targets while on the move", said Rear
Admiral Mohammed Ebrahim Dehqani, spokesman
for the manoeuvres codenamed "Holy Prophet".
Shortly after
the test, the head of the elite
Revolutionary Guards, General Yahya Rahim
Safavi, warned that Iran was now able to
confront any extra-regional invasion and
called for foreign troops to leave the
region.
"Iran wants
peace and security in the Persian Gulf and
this cannot be achieved unless foreign
forces and those who invaded Iraq leave,"
Safavi said, quoted by the official IRNA
news agency.
On Monday,
Iran said it had tested a highly destructive
torpedo, prompting the US State Department
to voice "concern" at a time of high
tensions over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
The series of
armaments tests "demonstrates a
weaponization programme by Iran that does
nothing to reassure Iran's neighbours or the
international community", the State
Department deputy spokesman said.
But Adam Ereli
told reporters that the United States was
still committed to resolving through
diplomacy the issue of Iran's uranium
enrichment activities, which Washington
believes masks a nuclear weapon programme.
Tehran denies the charges, AFP noted.
Iran
had warned the West on Monday not to "play
with fire" and said the success of the war
games demonstrated that it would never back
down over its nuclear programme.
Amid the show
of force, Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr
Mottaki vowed Tuesday Tehran would press on
with its nuclear programme despite a call by
the UN Security Council to suspend its
activities.
"The Islamic
republic started its peaceful activities to
obtain its rights under the NPT (nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty) and these
activities will go on under the supervision
of the (International Atomic Energy)
Agency," he said.
Iran
has refused to comply with a Security
Council demand to freeze uranium enrichment,
defying a warning from major world powers
which fear that the Islamic republic
secretly wants to develop an atomic bomb.
A non-binding
statement approved unanimously by the world
body on March 29 gave Iran 30 days to
abandon the sensitive nuclear work, but
without issuing a threat of sanctions.
Iran
has refused to freeze its nuclear research
and development, which includes uranium
enrichment, that it resumed in January,
insisting on nuclear technology for peaceful
purposes as its right.
Yet Iran's
ambassador to the IAEA, Aliasghar Soltanieh
said the UN watchdog inspectors were due in
Tehran Friday to visit the enrichment
facilities in Natanz, central Isfahan
province.
The torpedo
unveiled by Iran on Monday appears to be
based on a Soviet and Russian design, the
Moscow daily newspaper Izvestia said.
"Based on the
technical characteristics and even external
look, the new Iranian weapon resembles the
rocket-torpedo Shkval, which is considered
to hold the world speed record," Izvestia
quoted unnamed military experts as saying.
"The rocket
would let Tehran block the exit from the
Persian Gulf, through which 80 percent of
the oil extracted in the region reaches the
world market," it said.
The Gulf is a
vital corridor for the world's oil supplies.
Thousands of
Iranian troops are conducting the war games,
which involve the Revolutionary Guards Corps
navy and air force, Iran's regular army and
navy, the volunteer Basij militia, and the
Iranian police.
They kicked
off last Friday and are due to run until
Thursday.
German FM: Iran war games damaging N-talks
http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=41764&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs
LONDON,
April 5 (IranMania) - German Foreign
Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned Iran
that it was undermining negotiations on its
nuclear program with tests of a new
land-to-sea missile, AFP reported.
Steinmeier
told reporters on a trip to Washington
dominated by efforts to convince Iran to
freeze its sensitive nuclear research that
the latest launch in Persian Gulf war games
had heightened international concerns.
"It does not
help the talks and above all I am convinced
it does not help Iran," he said when asked
about the test of the medium-range Kowsar
missile.
"It does not
exactly strengthen the will to hold very
open negotiations with the Iranians when
they actively pursue the development of
their own missile technology."
He noted that
the tests were particularly problematic in
light of Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad's "highly aggressive" calls for
"Israel to be wiped off the map".
On Monday,
Tehran said it had tested a highly
destructive torpedo, prompting the US State
Department to voice its concern at a time of
high tensions over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Iran
had warned the West Monday not to "play with
fire" and said the success of the war games
demonstrated that it would never back down
over its nuclear program.
Berlin
hosted talks last week of the five permanent
members of the UN Security Council, Britain,
China, France, Russia and the United States,
plus Germany on Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Ministers of
the six countries discussed the road ahead
one day after the council adopted a
non-binding statement urging Iran to halt
within 30 days all uranium enrichment
activities, which Western leaders fear are
part of an effort to build an atomic bomb.
Britain,
France and Germany had led negotiations with
Iran over its nuclear program but the talks
broke down in January when a defiant Tehran
said it would resume disputed nuclear
research.
White House says Iran's ongoing military
drills further isolate itself
Source: Xinhua
Iran's ongoing military exercises in the
Gulf Region and its tests of new weapons
will further isolate itself, a White House
spokesman said on Tuesday.
The military
activities "are further examples of how the
regime is isolating itself and the Iranian
people from the rest of the world,"
spokesman Scott McClellan told a press
briefing.
McClellan
warned that Iran would face further
isolation from the international community
unless it abandoned its nuclear program and
complied with its international obligations.
Adam Ereli,
deputy spokesman for U.S. State department,
told media earlier this month that the
United States was deeply concerned over
Iran's announcement that it had test-fired a
new land-to-sea missile and a highly
destructive torpedo during its military
exercises, saying it posed grave threats to
regional security.
Thousands of
Iranian troops, including the Revolutionary
Guards Corps navy and air force, Iran's
regular army and navy, the volunteer Basij
militia and the Iranian police, are
conducting joint military drills, which
started last Friday and are scheduled to run
through Thursday.
Tehran
announced the successful testing of the new
weapons on Tuesday, saying they would help
the country to counter any possible
extra-regional invasion.
Some say Iran's weapons come from Russia
By LEE KEATH
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iran_New_Arsenal.html
CAIRO,
Egypt -- Iran has unveiled with great
fanfare a series of what it portrays as
sophisticated, homegrown weapons - flying
boats and missiles invisible to radar,
torpedoes too fast to elude.
But experts said Tuesday it appears much of
the technology came from Russia and
questioned Iran's claims about the weapons'
capabilities.
Still, the armaments, tested during war
games by some 17,000 Revolutionary Guards in
the Persian Gulf, send what may be Iran's
real message: its increased ability to hit
oil tankers if tension with America turns to
outright confrontation.
To underline that message, the maneuvers -
code-named "The Great Prophet" - have been
held since Friday around the Strait of
Hormuz, the 34-mile-wide entrance to the
Gulf through which about two-fifths of the
world's oil supplies pass.
Throughout the war games, Iran has touted
what it calls technological leaps in its
weapons production. In recent years, Iran
revved up its arms programs after long
relying on purchases abroad to keep up its
aging arsenal, hampered by U.S. sanctions
and Washington's pressure on other countries
against selling weapons to Tehran.
The head of the Revolutionary Guards, Gen.
Yahya Rahim Safavi, proclaimed Tuesday that
Iran was now able to defend itself against
"any extra-regional invasion."
It was a clear reference to Iranian worries
of potential U.S. military action to stop
its nuclear program, which Washington claims
is intended to produce nuclear weapons. Iran
says it aims only to generate electricity,
but has so far defied U.N. Security Council
demands that it give up key parts of its
program.
The new weapons, many of them shown on
Iranian state TV during their tests, have
come with impressive claims:
- A missile, the Fajr-3, that is invisible
to radar and able to strike several targets
with multiple warheads.
- A high-speed torpedo, the Hoot, able to
move at some 223 mph, up to four times
faster than a normal torpedo, and fired by
ships cloaked to radar.
- A surface-to-sea missile, the Kowsar, with
remote-control and searching systems that
cannot be scrambled.
- A "super-modern flying boat," undetectable
by radar and able to launch missiles with
precise targeting while skimming low over
the surface of the water at a top speed of
100 nautical mph.
There are questions over Iran's claims. In
Washington, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman
said "the Iranians have been known to boast
and exaggerate" their weapons capabilities.
And some experts cast doubt on just how
radar-evading Iran's ships and missiles are.
Iran's radars are not as advanced as those
of Israel, for example - meaning that
perhaps the weapons can avoid the radar that
Iran has access to, but not more advanced
types, said Meir Javedanfar, an
Iranian-born, Israel-based analyst.
"The question here is, what radar did they
test their own weapons against? If it's the
radar they've been using for all these
years, then that's not saying 100 percent
that these things are undetectable," he
said.
Others questioned if Iran developed the
weapons on its own.
The Hoot torpedo - the name means "whale" -
closely resembles the Russian-made VA-111
Shkval, the world's fastest known underwater
missile, developed in 1995, said Ruslan
Pukhov of Moscow's Center for Analysis of
Strategies and Technologies.
The Shkval attains high speeds by coating
itself in a cocoon of air bubbles, reducing
friction, and Pukhov said its technology was
too sophisticated for the Iranians to
produce themselves.
"Hypothetically, they could get access to
the Shkval technology, but if so, I don't
think they got it through Russian channels,"
he said.
Pukhov noted the former Soviet republic of
Kyrgyzstan once had a Soviet torpedo testing
center on the remote mountain lake of
Issyk-Kul. And he said that in the turmoil
that followed the Soviet breakup, Kyrgyz
authorities sold Shkvals to the Chinese, a
major importer of Iranian oil.
Kanybek Tabaldiyev, a senior official with a
Kyrgyz company that makes torpedo and other
military hardware at Issyk-Kul, denied his
company transferred sophisticated technology
to Iran. He said it was possible weaponry
had been acquired through other means.
Chinese officials had no immediate comment
on whether their country provided Iran with
Shkvals.
China has been pursuing closer relations
with Tehran in hopes of help in meeting its
energy needs, and the United States has
sanctioned Chinese companies in the past,
accusing them of violating international
controls on transfers of weapons technology
to Iran. Beijing has protested the U.S.
sanctions and in 2003, it issued its first
regulations controlling exports of missile,
nuclear and biological weapons technology.
Whatever the Iranian armaments' capabilities
- or origins - they likely won't greatly
affect the military balance of power in the
Gulf, where the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet is
based, operating out of the island nation of
Bahrain.
For example, the Hoot torpedo - if indeed
based on the Shkval - has too short a range,
about 7,500 yards, to be militarily
significant, said Pavel Felgenhauer, a
Russian analyst.
But Iran may be aiming to show the world,
and its people, that it has options if the
standoff over its nuclear program escalates.
That could boost its hand in negotiations
with the United States and Europe.
"They know they are inferior to the U.S.
Navy in the Persian Gulf, so this is their
way of telling Americans .... we are not the
only ones who would lose out if talks
regarding the nuclear program fail,"
Javedanfar said.
The torpedo tests in particular are
significant, he said.
"They know that if you sink one tanker in
the Strait of Hormuz you can stop all
shipping there, because the waters are quite
shallow," he said.
Associated Press reporters Mike Eckel in
Moscow, Kadyr Toktogulov in Kyrgyzstan,
Steve Weizman in Jerusalem and Audra Ang in
Beijing contributed to this report.
Democrat: Intelligence on Iran Inadequate
Tuesday April 4, 2006 10:01 PM
AP Photo XHS101
By KATHERINE SHRADER
Associated Press Writer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5733576,00.html
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. intelligence
information on Iran is inadequate and may
contain misinformation that spy agencies are
accepting as solid, the top Democrat on the
House Intelligence Committee said Tuesday.
Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., told a Council
on Foreign Relations gathering that she and
other lawmakers recently received a briefing
from intelligence agencies based on
information shared with the International
Atomic Energy Agency and the U.N. Security
Council.
Her bottom line: ``I remain skeptical - lots
of unanswered questions.''
``The conjecture that I have is that if I
were Iran, and I wanted to put out
disinformation, it might look a lot like
what our government is claiming is
information,'' she said. ``I can't tell you
that's true, but I can't tell you it's not
true.''
Harman didn't provide details on the
classified session.
With tensions growing between the U.S. and
Iran over its nuclear program, Tehran in the
past week has touted new weapons including
missiles supposedly invisible to radar and
torpedoes too fast to be avoided. Experts
have questioned Iran's claims about the
weapons' capabilities.
The announcements came as the Bush
administration was working toward a
diplomatic solution to address its belief
that Iran intends to produce nuclear
weapons. Iran says it aims only to generate
electricity, but it has thus far defied U.N.
Security Council demands that it give up key
parts of its program.
Last week, the Security Council unanimously
approved a statement demanding that Iran
suspend uranium enrichment.
When asked about Iran's recent weapons
announcements Tuesday, White House spokesman
Scott McClellan said Iran's ``aggressive
military program and defiant rhetoric are
further examples of how the regime is
isolating itself.'' But he stressed the
administration hopes to work toward a
diplomatic solution.
McClellan said the United States has a
number of concerns about Iran's behavior,
including its efforts to conceal its nuclear
activities, support of terrorism, use of
threatening rhetoric and disregard for the
demands of the international community.
Harman said she does not doubt that Iran is
a threat. ``The issue is how capable are
they and what are the real intentions of
Iran's leaders, and I think the jury is out
on both of those,'' Harman said.
In recent months, she and others on Capitol
Hill have been seeking information about how
to deal with Iran. Bruises in Congress and
elsewhere in the government remain fresh on
the botched prewar intelligence on Iraq's
never-to-be-found weapons of mass
destruction.
``I want to be absolutely sure that we base
decisions - especially tough decisions like
what are the next steps with Iran, and I
surely hope they are diplomatic because I
think those are our best options - on
pristine and pure intelligence or the
closest we can get to that,'' Harman said.
She was echoing the words of former U.S.
weapons inspector David Kay, who was in
charge of the hunt for Iraq's arsenal until
he quit his position in January 2004. Then,
he said that ``pristine intelligence, good
accurate intelligence'' was fundamental to a
pre-emptive military policy, which the Bush
administration adopted after Sept. 11, 2001.
Harman spoke alongside former acting CIA
Director John McLaughlin, a veteran
intelligence analyst who was the agency's
No. 2 official in the run-up to the Iraq
war. He politely quibbled with the use of
the phrase ``pristine intelligence.''
``It's important, I think, to realize that
intelligence isn't going to be pristine and
pure,'' McLaughlin said.
He said intelligence is often incomplete and
at some point policy decisions must be made.
``We are getting a little caught in the idea
that intelligence has the answer to
everything,'' he said.
Defenses Can Withstand Any Invasion
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/feeds/ap/2006/04/04/ap2646338.html
A top Iranian military official said Tuesday
the country can now defend itself against
any invasion originating from outside the
region - a clear reference to the United
States - as it tested a second new
radar-avoiding missile.
The new surface-to-sea missile is equipped
with remote-control and searching systems,
state-run television reported. It said the
new missile, called Kowsar after the name of
a river in paradise, was a medium-range
weapon that Iran had the capability to
mass-produce.
It also asserted that the Kowsar's guidance
system could not be scrambled, and it had
been designed to sink ships.
Shortly after the test, the chief of the
elite Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Yahya Rahim
Safavi, warned that Iran was now able to
"confront any extra-regional invasion,"
referring to the United States without
mentioning it by name.
"The missile command of the Guards' naval
force ... via positioning various types of
surface-to-sea missiles, is able, while
defending the coastlines and islands, to
confront any extra-territorial invasion,"
the official Islamic Republic News Agency
quoted Safavi as saying.
Safavi also called for foreign forces to
leave the region. The U.S. 5th Fleet is
based in Bahrain, from where it patrols the
Gulf.
"Iran wants durable peace in the Persian
Gulf and it can't be achieved without
foreign forces and those which invaded Iraq
leaving (the region)," IRNA quoted Safavi as
saying.
On Friday, the country tested the Fajr-3, a
missile that it said can avoid radars and
hit several targets simultaneously using
multiple warheads. Iran also has tested what
it calls two new torpedoes.
The second torpedo, unveiled Monday, was
tested in the Straits of Hormuz, the narrow
entrance to the Gulf that is a vital
corridor for oil supplies. That seemed to be
a clear warning to the United States that
Iran believes it has the capability to
disable oil tankers moving through the Gulf.
The Revolutionary Guards, the elite branch
of Iran's military, have been holding their
maneuvers - code-named the "Great Prophet" -
since Friday, touting what they call
domestically built technological advances in
their armed forces.
But some military analysts in Moscow said it
appears the high-speed torpedoes likely were
Russian-built weapons that may have been
acquired from China or the former Soviet
republic of Kyrgyzstan.
Others have questioned just how
radar-evading the missiles are. Iran's
radars are not as advanced as those of
Israel, for example - meaning that perhaps
the new weapons can avoid Iran's radar but
not more advanced types.
The United States said Monday - after the
second torpedo test - that while Iran may
have made "some strides" in its military, it
likely is exaggerating its capabilities.
"We know that the Iranians are always trying
to improve their weapons system by both
foreign and indigenous measures," Pentagon
spokesman Bryan Whitman said in Washington.
"It's possible that they are increasing
their capability and making strides in
radar-absorbing materials and technology."
But "the Iranians have also been known to
boast and exaggerate their statements about
greater technical and tactical
capabilities," he said.
It has not been possible to verify Iran's
claims for the new armaments. But the
country has made clear it aims to send a
message of strength to the United States
amid heightened tensions over its nuclear
program.
The U.N. Security Council has demanded Iran
give up uranium enrichment, a crucial part
of the nuclear process. Washington is
pressing for sanctions if Tehran continues
its refusal to do so, though U.S. officials
have not ruled out military action as an
eventual option, insisting they will not
allow Iran to gain a nuclear arsenal.
In Russia, a Kremlin-allied lawmaker on
Tuesday criticized the recent torpedo and
missile tests as a counterproductive show of
might at a time when it should be trying to
allay fears that it is trying to build a
nuclear weapon.
"It is clear that Iran is demonstrating its
muscle in order to forestall any discussions
of a possible operation using force against
Iran," Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the
parliamentary foreign affairs committee, was
quoted as saying according to the RIA
Novosti news agency.
On Tuesday, state-run television also said
the elite Revolutionary Guards had tested
what it called a "super-modern flying boat"
capable of evading radar. TV showed a brief
clip of the boat's launch.
"Due to its advanced design, no radar at sea
or in the air can detect it. It can lift out
of the water," the television said. It said
the boat was "all Iranian-made and can
launch missiles with precise targeting while
moving."
The television showed the boat, looking like
an aircraft, taking off from the sea and
flying low over the surface of the water. It
said the craft can fly with a speed of 100
nautical miles per hour.
Iran said the torpedo tests were conducted
Sunday and Monday. The torpedo - called a
"Hoot," or "whale" - is able to move at 223
mph, too fast for any enemy ship to elude.
Iran has routinely held war games over the
past two decades to improve its combat
readiness and test locally made equipment
such as missiles, tanks and armored
personnel carriers.
Iran launched an arms development program
during its 1980-88 war with Iraq to
compensate for a U.S. weapons embargo. Since
1992, Iran has produced its own tanks,
armored personnel carriers, missiles and a
fighter plane.
Iran
vows never to abandon enrichment
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-04/05/content_4384750.htm
Special report:
Iran Nuclear Crisis
TEHRAN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Iranian
Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki vowed on
Tuesday that Tehran would never give up its
right to uranium enrichment.
"The right to uranium enrichment is a
right enshrined by the Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT), and Iran just wants to and
will enjoy its right," Mottaki told
reporters.
Mottaki also voiced Iran's readiness to
hold negotiations over large-scale uranium
enrichment but vowed that Tehran would not
accept any commitments beyond the NPT and
the safeguard agreement of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"We will not negotiate to give up our
legal rights," he stressed.
Meanwhile, Iranian Majlis (Parliament)
Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel rejected as
"illegal" and "unfair" a presidential
statement adopted by the UN Security Council
on March 29, which asks Iran to suspend
uranium enrichment activities in 30 days.
"The Security Council has been affected
by big powers...We regret that the council,
which must keep peace and security, has
turned into a tool for practicing
discrimination," Adel was quoted by the
official IRNA news agency as saying at the
first session of the Majlis after the
Iranian new year vacation.
The speaker was echoed by Foreign
Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi, who on
the sidelines of the Majlis session called
on the Iranian nuclear file to be returned
to the IAEA.
"We said from the very beginning that
the case should be settled in the agency and
there is no reason for sending it to another
body.The dossier should be returned to the
main body (the IAEA). It is not yet late,"
Asefi was quoted by IRNA as saying.Asefi
further said that the IAEA would soon
dispatch a team of inspectors to Iran but
the inspectors would not be able to carry
out snap inspections on the country's
nuclear facilities becauseIran "is not
currently enforcing the additional protocol
of the NPT."
Iranian Ambassador to the IAEA
Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh said on Monday that
the upcoming inspections would be taking
place just on the basis of the NPT.
Local media have reported that the new
team of IAEA inspectors will arrive in Iran
on Friday or Saturday, but the exact date
has not been confirmed by official sources.
IRNA also quoted a western diplomat as
saying that Director General of the IAEA
Mohamed El Baradei "is likely to" report to
the UN Security Council on April 27 over
Iran's implementation of the council's
presidential statement.
Based on the agency's Feb. 4 resolution,
the IAEA on March 8 handed over files of the
Iranian nuclear issue to the UN Security
Council after a board of governors' meeting.
After three weeks of heated bargains,
the 15-member Security Council on March 29
approved the non-binding presidential
statement, asking Iran to suspend uranium
enrichment activities in 30 days.
Iran has denounced the involvement of
the Security Council,vowing never to give in
to pressures and bullies.
In retaliation to the IAEA resolution in
February, Iran has downgraded its
cooperation with the IAEA to the extent as
just required by the NPT, barring snap
inspections enshrined by the additional
protocol while resuming small-scale uranium
enrichment.
|
Rice Defends US Broadcast Plans for
Iran
|
|
By David Gollust
Washington
04 April 2006 |
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-04-04-voa84.cfm
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Tuesday
defended plans to step up U.S. broadcasting
and democracy-promotion efforts in Iran. The
Bush administration is asking Congress for
$75 million for the programming amid the
diplomatic confrontation over Iran's nuclear
program.
The secretary of state is standing by the
supplemental budget request for Iranian
outreach in the face of Congressional
criticism that the Iranian government will
be able to dismiss the program as merely
U.S. disinformation.
The administration request was made in
mid-February but has yet to be acted on by
Congress. It is asking for $75 million, two
thirds of it for increased Farsi-language
television and radio broadcasting into Iran
and the rest for democracy promotion and
exchange programs.
At a House Appropriations Committee hearing
on the State Department budget, veteran
House Democrat David Obey said he had very
little faith in prospects for success of the
outreach effort. He said it could be
characterized as either an information or a
regime de-stabilization package but said
that in any case it could be easily
discredited by the Tehran government. "If we
are going to engage in activity like that,
why on earth would we be as public about it
as we've been. It's simply giving that
regime an opportunity to claim that
virtually every piece of information which
is produced is disinformation from us. I
mean, why are we making it easier for them
to blame us for interfering in their affairs
by being so public about something like
this?," he asked.
The secretary, however, said she believed
that subtlety in trying to promote reform in
Iran is not the proper course, and that the
budgetary process requires the
administration to be very public about the
Iran program.
She said U.S. officials have heard from
Iranians and frequent visitors to the
country that the people of Iran want to hear
the United States speak about their plight,
and she said the experience of the Cold War
era suggests they will not dismiss the U.S.
message out of hand. "I wouldn't jump to the
conclusion that Iranians believe what their
government says about that. I remember in
the days of Radio Free Europe and Voice of
America that the Soviet Union and the
Eastern European governments made the same
claims about those. And people listened to
them in droves anyway and they got the
information they needed. And they sustained
their hopes of one day being part of a
democracy, even though their governments
said the same things," he said.
Congressman Obey said he was unsure whether
the United States has the tools, short of
"doing something extreme" to prevent Iran
from acquiring a nuclear weapons capacity.
Secretary Rice, who has been a key player in
U.S.-led efforts to move the Iranian nuclear
issue to the U.N. Security Council, had no
direct response to the remark.
Elsewhere in her testimony, Rice said Iran's
backing for the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon
is probably the most egregious example of
Iranian interference in another country's
sovereign affairs.
She said the United States continues to work
with France and other international partners
for the full implementation of U.N. Security
Council resolution 15-59, which secured the
withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon a
year ago, but also demands the disbanding of
Lebanese militias.
Iran
military claims has developed “flying boat”
Tehran,
Iran, Apr. 04 – Iran put on display its
first ever “flying boat” during military
manoeuvres in the Persian Gulf and the Sea
of Oman.
State television showed images of the vessel
flying at low altitude and moving on water.
The vessel appeared to be a more-advanced
military version of the common seaplane.
A spokesperson for the war-games currently
taking place by the Revolutionary Guards’
navy announced that the “flying boat” was
highly capable and had successfully carried
out its mission.
The television report said that the vessel
could evade sea and air radar detection
because of its advanced design.
The vessel has a high speed of more than 100
knots per hour and can lift in water, the
report said, adding that it could fire at
targets with great accuracy while in motion.
The unnamed “flying boat” was designed by
Iran’s Ministry of Defence, the report
added.
Iran's Stealth Advances: The Iranian
'Flying Boat' Marks Latest
Pentagon Confirms Last Friday's Missile Test
Was Not a New ICBM MIRV but a Shahab-2
(Scud-C)
By Steve Schippert
Conventional military advancements continue
to be announced in Iran’s latest military
exercise in the Persian Gulf,
Great Prophet.
After several announcements of missile and
torpedo test launches comes Iran’s report of
what the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
calling their ‘flying boat’.
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
showed the ‘flying boat’ flying at low
altitude and maneuvering in water and said
that it was domestically produced in Iran.
It
follows a common thread along with the rest
of Iran’s new hardware announcements:
Stealthy technology. This is the true value
of the conventional advances announced by
Iran in the Great Prophet maneuvers in the
Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, not any
claimed MIRV
development that Iran cannot arm or even the
speed of the 328-feet-per-second Hoot
torpedo, by contrast a very real threat to
traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. The source
of the stealthy technology is without doubt
our friends in
China and
Russia.
Last week, it was noted that there was no
word from NORAD
nor the US Military in-theater of a
‘ballistic’ missile launch detection in
Iran. Today, we get that word. The Pentagon
is saying now that
Iran tested an older version of the Scud
missile family last week and not any new
ICBM development.
What was launched in last week’s much
publicized Iranian media event was, in fact,
a Shahab-2 with a range of 310 miles. The
Shahab-2 is the Iranian designation for
the Scud-C variant of the Russian design.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman seems to
echo sentiments expressed in this space
since last week saying,
“It is possible
they are increasing their capabilities and
making strides in radar-absorbing material
and targeting. However, the Iranians have
been known to boast and exaggerate their
statements about greater technical and
tactical capabilities.”
A
senior Russian Minister of Parliament
criticized Iran’s very public displays
in their current wargaming maneuvers,
calling them inappropriate. Minister
Konstantin Kosachyov, the chairman of the
Russian State Duma International Affairs
Committee, also cast doubt on the wild (and
vague) claims made by the Iranians regarding
last week’s missile test announcement.
“So far we
have nothing except the assertion by the
Iranian military and by politicians that it
is superior to other similar missiles, but I
see no reason to believe these statements.”
The development of stealthy technology is
not insignificant. However, Iran’s greatest
development is and was their creation,
development and support of Hezbollah, and
the terrorism and terrorist groups Hezbollah
aids, trains, funds and arms. Aside from
military attacks on shipping in the Straits
of Hormuz, the only effective attack arm
Iran possesses against the United States is
that of Hezbollah and other terrorist groups
carrying out attacks in the region and
throughout the world.
While Iran states they will not use oil as a
weapon, it can be assured that they will.
They must. There is a reason that their
latest maneuvers center around the Strait of
Hormuz, and it is not because their missile
testing ranges are conveniently located
nearby.
Iran's spies watching us, says Israel
By Con Coughlin Defence and Security Editor,
on Israel's northern border
04/04/2006
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/04/wiran04.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/04/04/ixworld.html
Iran has set up a sophisticated intelligence
gathering operation in southern Lebanon to
identify targets in northern Israel in the
event of a military confrontation over its
controversial nuclear programme.
Senior Israeli military commanders say Iran
has spent tens of millions of pounds helping
its close ally, Hizbollah, the Shia Muslim
militant group that controls southern
Lebanon, to set up a network of control
towers and monitoring stations along the
entire length of Israel's border with south
Lebanon.
Some of the new control towers, which are
made of reinforced concrete and fitted with
bullet-proof reflective glass, are less than
100 yards from Israeli army positions and
are clearly visible for long stretches along
Israel's border.
"This is now Iran's front line with Israel,"
a senior Israeli military commander said.
"The Iranians are using Hizbollah to spy on
us so that they can collect information for
future attacks. And there is very little we
can do about it."
The Israeli military has reported a
significant increase in Hizbollah activity
in southern Lebanon since Syria came under
intense international pressure to withdraw
its forces from the area last year following
the assassination of the Lebanese prime
minister Rafik Hariri.
Israeli military officers report that teams
of Iran's Revolutionary Guards travel
regularly to southern Lebanon to help train
local Hizbollah fighters in terrorist
tactics. Tensions between Iran and Israel
have intensified dramatically since the
election last summer of President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad as Iran's new leader. Israel has
repeatedly threatened to take military
action to prevent Iran from acquiring
nuclear weapons, and the new Iranian
government has responded by calling for
Israel's destruction.
Senior Israeli military officers believe
Iran is deliberately exploiting the power
vacuum caused by Syria's withdrawal to
intensify pressure on Israel's northern
border.
Hizbollah is aware that Israel is keen to
maintain friendly relations with the new
government in Lebanon and believes it can
act freely in southern Lebanon without
provoking retaliatory strikes from Israel.
Officers report a sharp increase in border
incidents between Hizbollah fighters and
Israeli units on the northern border, with
the main flash points located at the
disputed Druze village of Ghajar, which is
divided by the border between Israel and
Lebanon, and Mount Dov, which Hizbollah also
claims should be part of Lebanon.
The situation is now regarded as so serious
that many senior Israeli officers openly
admit to missing the restraining influence
of Syria over Hizbollah.
"When the Syrians were in Lebanon it was
easy for us to control Hizbollah," said an
officer with Israel's northern command. "If
things got too tense we could put pressure
on Damascus and the Syrians would act
quickly to calm things down."
Although the Lebanese government technically
controls the border area, its military is
not considered strong enough to control
Hizbollah, which takes its orders directly
from Teheran.
"Iran is playing a very dangerous game of
cat and mouse on our northern border and it
could easily spiral out of control at any
moment," said the officer.
In recent weeks Hizbollah sent unmanned
aircraft on reconnaissance missions over the
border to photograph sensitive Israeli
military installations. The spy planes
returned to base before being detected by
air defence systems.
In addition to providing
intelligence-gathering and communications
equipment, Iran has also equipped Hizbollah
with improved weapons and ammunition to
launch attacks against Israel, including
heavy mortars and rockets with a range of up
to 30 miles.
Iran
vows never to abandon enrichment
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-04/05/content_4384750.htm
Special report:
Iran Nuclear
Crisis
TEHRAN,
April 4 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister
Manuchehr Mottaki vowed on
Tuesday that Tehran would never give up its
right to uranium enrichment.
"The right
to uranium enrichment is a right enshrined
by the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and
Iran just wants to and will enjoy its
right," Mottaki told reporters.
Mottaki
also voiced Iran's readiness to hold
negotiations over large-scale uranium
enrichment but vowed that Tehran would not
accept any commitments beyond the NPT and
the safeguard agreement of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"We will
not negotiate to give up our legal rights,"
he stressed.
Meanwhile,
Iranian Majlis (Parliament) Speaker
Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel rejected as "illegal"
and "unfair" a presidential statement
adopted by the UN Security Council on March
29, which asks Iran to suspend uranium
enrichment activities in 30 days.
"The
Security Council has been affected by big
powers...We regret that the council, which
must keep peace and security, has turned
into a tool for practicing discrimination,"
Adel was quoted by the official IRNA news
agency as saying at the first session of the
Majlis after the Iranian new year vacation.
The
speaker was echoed by Foreign Ministry
Spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi, who on the
sidelines of the Majlis session called on
the Iranian nuclear file to be returned to
the IAEA.
"We said
from the very beginning that the case should
be settled in the agency and there is no
reason for sending it to another body.The
dossier should be returned to the main body
(the IAEA). It is not yet late," Asefi was
quoted by IRNA as saying.Asefi further said
that the IAEA would soon dispatch a team of
inspectors to Iran but the inspectors would
not be able to carry out snap inspections on
the country's nuclear facilities becauseIran
"is not currently enforcing the additional
protocol of the NPT."
Iranian
Ambassador to the IAEA Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh
said on Monday that the upcoming inspections
would be taking place just on the basis of
the NPT.
Local
media have reported that the new team of
IAEA inspectors will arrive in Iran on
Friday or Saturday, but the exact date has
not been confirmed by official sources.
IRNA also
quoted a western diplomat as saying that
Director General of the IAEA Mohamed El
Baradei "is likely to" report to the UN
Security Council on April 27 over Iran's
implementation of the council's presidential
statement.
Based on
the agency's Feb. 4 resolution, the IAEA on
March 8 handed over files of the Iranian
nuclear issue to the UN Security Council
after a board of governors' meeting.
After
three weeks of heated bargains, the
15-member Security Council on March 29
approved the non-binding presidential
statement, asking Iran to suspend uranium
enrichment activities in 30 days.
Iran has
denounced the involvement of the Security
Council,vowing never to give in to pressures
and bullies.
In
retaliation to the IAEA resolution in
February, Iran has downgraded its
cooperation with the IAEA to the extent as
just required by the NPT, barring snap
inspections enshrined by the additional
protocol while resuming small-scale uranium
enrichment.
‘Two
B-2s could take out Iran’s nuclear assets’
By Khalid Hasan
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C04%5C05%5Cstory_5-4-2006_pg7_62
WASHINGTON: Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions
will be history by the time US President
George W Bush leaves office, said a report
published here.
Veteran foreign correspondent Arnaud de
Borchgrave, writing for the United Press
International, quotes a “prominent neo-con”
with good White House and Department of
Defence contacts, as the source of the
assertion. Asked what would the US do if
sanctions did not make Iran turn away from
its nuclear target, the source replied,
“B-2s. Two of them could do the job in a
single strike against multiple targets.”
De Borchgrave writes in an amused vein, “So
we looked up B-2s. The US Air Force only has
21 of them. Perhaps price had something to
do with it. They came in at $2.2 billion a
copy. But they can carry enough ordnance to
make Iranians nostalgic for the Shah and his
role as the free world’s gendarme in charge
of the West’s oil supplies in the Gulf.
These stealthy bombers have one major
drawback in the Persian magic carpet mode.
They can only attack 16 targets
simultaneously; one short of the 17
underground nuclear facilities pinned red on
Mossad’s target-rich PowerPoint
presentations to the political leadership.
Presumably, that’s why two B-2s would be
required.”
De Borchgrave points out that most of Iran’s
secret nuclear installations are not only
underground, but also close to population
centres. “The first pictures of a B-2 raid
would be dead women and children on
al-Jazeera television newscasts, now as
globally ubiquitous as CNN and FOX. The
collateral damage would then rival Abu
Ghraib’s devastating impact on America’s
good name. The perceived American
indifference over the loss of Arab lives
would now be seen as spreading to another
Muslim country,” he writes. The neo-con
informant told the correspondent that there
is “absolutely no way” Bush will accommodate
to an Iranian nuke or two, the way he
blinked first with North Korea. Bush
uncompromising view of the Iranian nuclear
danger and his determination to prevent it
by force of two B-2s if necessary is “as
solid as his resolve to rid Iraq of Saddam
Hussein,” he said.
According to de Borchgrave, “This is also
the British assessment of Bush’s intentions
against Iran, a power whose president has
vowed to wipe Israel off the map. Today
(April 3, 2006), senior British officials
met with defence and intelligence chiefs to
assess the consequences of air strikes
against Iran - as well as European and
global repercussions. Neo-cons are unfazed
by the fact that Iran is an ancient
civilisation of 70 million people with
retaliatory assets that range from a
choke-hold on the world’s most important oil
route in the Strait of Hormuz, to an anti-US
Shiite coalition in Iraq with two private
militias, funded and armed by Iran, to
terrorist groups throughout the Middle East
that have a global reach. Iran is also a
power that not only resisted an Iraqi
invasion, but fought Saddam Hussein’s
legions to a standstill in an eight-year-war
of attrition that killed about 1 million
soldiers on both sides. If, as Bush has
indicated, US troops were still in Iraq in
2009 under the next president, Tehran, in
retaliatory animus, would pull out all the
stops to ensure a Vietnam-like send-off for
remaining US forces in Iraq. For the time
being, Tehran is delighted to keep US troops
in Iraq as protective cover for Iran as it
consolidates its influence throughout 60
percent of the country.”
Iran raises tensions with a show of strength
By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor
05/04/2006
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/05/wiran05.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/04/05/ixnewstop.html
A stealth flying boat, a radar-evading
missile with multiple warheads,
a rocket-torpedo and an anti-ship
missile that cannot be jammed: with every
day that passes, Iran announces a
development in its military hardware.
|
 |
|
Sabre-rattling: Iran test-fires
a Fajr-3 missile and naval
vessels take part in manoeuvres
in the Persian Gulf |
The flurry of technological achievements,
shown in grainy television footage,
coincides with a large naval war-game in the
Gulf codenamed "Great Prophet".
The exercises around the Straits of Hormuz,
through which two fifths of the world's oil
passes, are seen in the West as
"sabre-rattling" as Teheran faces concerted
international pressure to halt its widely
suspected attempt to develop a nuclear
arsenal.
Western officials say the Iranians are
trying to tell the West - especially America
and Israel - that they can strike back
against any attempt to bomb their nuclear
facilities.
Iran
could, for example, try to disrupt the
shipping of oil through the Gulf, and
threaten Israel with a growing array of
missiles.
"The aim is political and rhetorical rather
than military," said one British source. "I
would not put any money on the Iranians' kit
if it came to a contest with the American
military." The clerical regime also wants to
impress on the Iranian public that it
remains powerful despite American attempts
to destabilise it.
Moreover, it seeks to stoke national pride
by claiming the weapons as home-produced,
even though they are mostly based on
Russian, Chinese and North Korean
technology.
"There is no doubt that there is a certain
amount of bravado in what is coming out of
Teheran," an Israeli official said. "But
there is enough substance in some of the
stuff they have been talking about for us to
be concerned.
"We know that they have been working on
multiple warheads. They are very serious
about developing their delivery systems."
Iran
announced last Friday that it had
successfully test-fired a missile that could
avoid detection by radar and deliver
multiple warheads to hit several targets.
General Hossein Salami, the air force chief
of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, hailed the
development of the Fajr-3 (Dawn-3) missile
as the achievement of "a remarkable goal".
But Ivan Oelrich, vice-president of the
Federation of American Scientists, said: "It
is conceivable they have a multiple warhead
capability but this is not very
sophisticated. Though three missiles heading
for the same target makes it harder for
missile defence, the warheads will not have
their own guidance systems and the missiles
will carry a lower payload. It would be
difficult to target effectively with them."
On Sunday Iran announced another success:
the launching of "the world's fastest
underwater missile", travelling at about 195
knots, or three times faster than the
fastest western torpedo.
General Ali Fadavi, deputy naval commander
of the Revolutionary Guards, said the weapon
could overcome sonar systems because of its
speed and its movement underwater. Weapons
experts said it appeared to be a Soviet
rocket-powered torpedo known as the Shkval.
However, it cannot track a target and has a
range of less than four miles. A former
commander of the Russian Black Sea fleet,
Admiral Eduard Baltin, said Iran's torpedo
announcement was little more than a bluff.
"Shkval has no target designation devices.
That is, it is not a self-homing torpedo.
Besides, it leaves a trail, which makes it
easy to spot and destroy," he said.
Undeterred, Iran yesterday announced the
launch of a surface-to-sea missile known as
the Kowsar. According to Iranian television,
it can evade radar and its guidance system
cannot be scrambled.
Television also showed footage of a
"super-modern flying boat," a strange
one-man craft that looks like a cross
between a seaplane and a stealth fighter.
State television said that the
single-propeller seaplane could launch a
missile and "because of the hull's advanced
design, no radar at sea or in the air can
locate it".
The commander of the Revolutionary Guards,
General Yahya Rahim Safavi, said Iranian
forces were able to "confront any
extra-territorial invasion".
Nuclear Iran by 2007
April 04, 2006
The Sun
Tom Newton Dunn
link to original article
Iran's
nuclear bomb plans will be unstoppable by
2007, it emerged last night. The shock
forecast puts massive pressure on Tony Blair
and US President George Bush to solve the
growing security crisis. And it dramatically
increases the chances of an American air
strike against the rogue Islamic state.
Israeli officials revealed yesterday that
Iran will have completed work on key
machinery needed to build nukes by early
next year.
One said: “Iran is racing to the point of no
return. Action needs to be taken as soon as
possible.”
Western leaders fear the bomb-building plan
could plunge the Middle East into World War
Three.
Diplomatic attempts to persuade the
Ayatollahs to abandon it have been bogged
down by rows with Russia and China.
Previously it was thought Iran was at least
two years away from being able to build a
nuclear weapon.
But intelligence has shown that Iranian
scientists are just months from perfecting
the equipment to enrich uranium — the vital
ingredient for a bomb.
Iranian state TV yesterday claimed that a
radar-evading missile had been successfully
fired in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Israeli official added “A nuclear Iran
will be a very dangerous place. Iran has
taken upon itself to be the great challenger
of the West.”
The drastically shortened timescale would
give UN sanctions little time to work.
That leaves a military strike as the only
option to stop the Doomsday programme.
Israel has refused to rule out taking its
own military action against Iran if the rest
of the world fails to act.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims
the atomic programme is to produce
electricity.
But he has also vowed to “wipe Israel from
the face of the map”.
He insisted last month that no power in the
world could stop his country’s nuclear
ambitions.
Iran
Says It Can Handle Any Invasion
April 04, 2006
The Associated Press
Ali Akbar Dareini
link to original article
TEHRAN,
Iran -- A top Iranian military official said
Tuesday the country can now defend itself
against any invasion originating from
outside the region - a clear reference to
the United States - as it tested a second
new radar-avoiding missile.
The new surface-to-sea missile is equipped
with remote-control and searching systems,
state-run television reported. It said the
new missile, called Kowsar after the name of
a river in paradise, was a medium-range
weapon that Iran had the capability to
mass-produce.
It also asserted that the Kowsar's guidance
system could not be scrambled, and it had
been designed to sink ships.
Shortly after the test, the chief of the
elite Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Yahya Rahim
Safavi, warned that Iran was now able to
``confront any extra-regional invasion,''
referring to the United States without
mentioning it by name.
``The missile command of the Guards' naval
force ... via positioning various types of
surface-to-sea missiles, is able, while
defending the coastlines and islands, to
confront any extra-territorial invasion,''
the official Islamic Republic News Agency
quoted Safavi as saying.
Safavi also called for foreign forces to
leave the region. The U.S. 5th Fleet is
based in Bahrain, from where it patrols the
Gulf.
``Iran wants durable peace in the Persian
Gulf and it can't be achieved without
foreign forces and those which invaded Iraq
leaving (the region),'' IRNA quoted Safavi
as saying.
On Friday, the country tested the Fajr-3, a
missile that it said can avoid radars and
hit several targets simultaneously using
multiple warheads. Iran also has tested what
it calls two new torpedoes.
The second torpedo, unveiled Monday, was
tested in the Straits of Hormuz, the narrow
entrance to the Gulf that is a vital
corridor for oil supplies. That seemed to be
a clear warning to the United States that
Iran believes it has the capability to
disable oil tankers moving through the Gulf.
The Revolutionary Guards, the elite branch
of Iran's military, have been holding their
maneuvers - code-named the ``Great Prophet''
- since Friday, touting what they call
domestically built technological advances in
their armed forces.
But some military analysts in Moscow said it
appears the high-speed torpedoes likely were
Russian-built weapons that may have been
acquired from China or the former Soviet
republic of Kyrgyzstan.
Others have questioned just how
radar-evading the missiles are. Iran's
radars are not as advanced as those of
Israel, for example - meaning that perhaps
the new weapons can avoid Iran's radar but
not more advanced types.
The United States said Monday - after the
second torpedo test - that while Iran may
have made ``some strides'' in its military,
it likely is exaggerating its capabilities.
``We know that the Iranians are always
trying to improve their weapons system by
both foreign and indigenous measures,''
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said in
Washington. ``It's possible that they are
increasing their capability and making
strides in radar-absorbing materials and
technology.''
But ``the Iranians have also been known to
boast and exaggerate their statements about
greater technical and tactical
capabilities,'' he said.
It has not been possible to verify Iran's
claims for the new armaments. But the
country has made clear it aims to send a
message of strength to the United States
amid heightened tensions over its nuclear
program.
The U.N. Security Council has demanded Iran
give up uranium enrichment, a crucial part
of the nuclear process. Washington is
pressing for sanctions if Tehran continues
its refusal to do so, though U.S. officials
have not ruled out military action as an
eventual option, insisting they will not
allow Iran to gain a nuclear arsenal.
In Russia, a Kremlin-allied lawmaker on
Tuesday criticized the recent torpedo and
missile tests as a counterproductive show of
might at a time when it should be trying to
allay fears that it is trying to build a
nuclear weapon.
``It is clear that Iran is demonstrating its
muscle in order to forestall any discussions
of a possible operation using force against
Iran,'' Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the
parliamentary foreign affairs committee, was
quoted as saying according to the RIA
Novosti news agency.
On Tuesday, state-run television also said
the elite Revolutionary Guards had tested
what it called a ``super-modern flying
boat'' capable of evading radar. TV showed a
brief clip of the boat's launch.
``Due to its advanced design, no radar at
sea or in the air can detect it. It can lift
out of the water,'' the television said. It
said the boat was ``all Iranian-made and can
launch missiles with precise targeting while
moving.''
The television showed the boat, looking like
an aircraft, taking off from the sea and
flying low over the surface of the water. It
said the craft can fly with a speed of 100
nautical miles per hour.
Iran said the torpedo tests were conducted
Sunday and Monday. The torpedo - called a
``Hoot,'' or ``whale'' - is able to move at
223 mph, too fast for any enemy ship to
elude.
Iran has routinely held war games over the
past two decades to improve its combat
readiness and test locally made equipment
such as missiles, tanks and armored
personnel carriers.
Iran launched an arms development program
during its 1980-88 war with Iraq to
compensate for a U.S. weapons embargo. Since
1992, Iran has produced its own tanks,
armored personnel carriers, missiles and a
fighter plane.
China
Warns Iran of "Undesirable Results" if it
Fails to Cooperate with UNSC
April 04, 2006
Kuwait News Agency
KUNA
link to original article
UNITED NATIONS -- Security Council president
Guangya Wang of China on Tuesday warned Iran
that the members would seek "undesirable
results" if it does not cooperate with the
IAEA and the council demands regarding its
nuclear programme, but ruled out sanctions.
"We have words for the Iranians. We call on
them to cooperate and we also warn of
non-cooperation. They have to realize that
the political situation in the world and to
consider that non cooperation will lead to
the undesirable results. We are smart people
and they are also smart people," Wang told a
press conference to discuss the council's
programme of work during his presidency this
month.
He said his government played its "modest"
part from the beginning of the Iran crisis.
"We are talking to the Iranians. They also
sent people to Beijing. We encouraged them
to cooperate with the IAEA, the EU3 and
Russia.
"If there is a need that they want China to
play a part, we'd like to play that part. So
we are working. Under the current
circumstances, we encourage them to take
measures that will create confidence
building so that the main players will
understand and trust each other better." The
council is scheduled to revisit the Iranian
issue later this month after it gave Iran 30
days to cooperate with the IAEA demands,
mainly to stop enriching uranium, a fuel
that may be used to produce nuclear weapons.
The ultimatum, issued last week, came after
weeks of arduous negotiations among the
council key members which resulted in
weakening a presidential statement that was
stripped of any mention of threat of
sanctions on Tehran.
"In order to have a solution to the Iranian
nuclear issue, we need the cooperation of
all parties, particularly from the Iranian
Government with the IAEA I do believe that
over the next couple of weeks different
kinds of diplomatic activities are needed.
"I hope the major players will pick up the
momentum created by the (council) statement
to engage in negotiations once again to lead
to a solution that is agreeable to all
sides," he said.
He warned that "if (council) members are
thinking of taking (punitive) action under
Chapter 7 on this issue, it will prove to be
more counterproductive rather than
productive. Therefore we have to be careful
on this because this region has so many
problems already. We don't need to escalate
the situation for the worst." On the
election of the next Secretary-General, he
expressed hope that he or she will be from
Asia and play a constructive role and act in
accordance with the Charter. He urged the
Asian group to actively negotiate the matter
now. He urged the other council's four
permanent members - US, UK, France and
Russia - not to consider at all "vetoing
each other's candidate out."
Iran
Commander: Exercise To Prepare For Possible
US Attack
April 04, 2006
Dow Jones Newswires
AP
link to original article
TEHRAN -- A top commander of Iran's
Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Hossein Kargar,
said Monday that the current maneuvers in
the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea aim to
prepare the troops in case of attack by the
U.S. "Regarding the threats by the global
arrogance, defensive preparation is a task
of the armed forces," Kargar was quoted by
the state news agency IRNA as saying.
The Iranian government often refers to the
U.S. as "global arrogance."
Kargar's comments come after Iran
successfully tested its second new torpedo
in as many days Monday, the latest weapon to
be unveiled during war games in the Gulf.
A spokesman for the elite Revolutionary
Guards indicated the new, Iranian-made
torpedo was more powerful and capable of
going deeper than previous ones in Iran's
arsenal.
Gen. Mohammad Ebrahim Dehghani told state
television the ship-launched weapon can
target submarines at any depth and is
powerful enough to "break a heavy warship"
in two. He did not announce the name of the
new torpedo or give details on its speed or
range.
The torpedo was tested in the Straits of
Hormuz, the narrow entrance of the Gulf and
a vital corridor for oil supplies.
The Revolutionary Guards, the elite branch
of Iran's military, have been holding their
maneuvers - codenamed the "Great Prophet" -
since Friday, touting what they call
domestically built technological advances in
their armed forces.
A day earlier, Iran announced it had tested
a different new torpedo -the high-speed
"Hoot," which means "whale." Iran said the
Hoot, moving at up to 360 kilometers an
hour, was too fast for any enemy ship to
elude. Friday, it tested the Fajr-3, a
missile than it said can avoid radars and
hit several targets simultaneously using
multiple warheads.
It has not been possible to verify Iran's
claims for the new armaments. But the
country has made clear it aims to send a
message of strength to the U.S. amid
heightened tensions over Iran's nuclear
program.
Many in Iran worry over the possibility of
U.S. military action in the escalating
dispute over Iran's nuclear ambition, an
option Washington has refused to rule out.
Ali Ansari, an Iran specialist at the U.K.'s
Royal Institute for International Affairs,
cautioned that there is likely "a little bit
of bluster" in Iran's claims for its new
weapons.
"They're trying to impress," he told The
Associated Press. They aim to "prove to the
West that they can hit Israel and close the
Straits of Hormuz. They're saying if you hit
us, then we can hit back."
Iran's leaders also want to reassure
Iranians the country can defend itself.
"There's a lot of worry (among the public)
over what direction the country is taking,
and they want to show that Iran can hold its
own against the U.S."
The U.S. is pushing for U.N. sanctions
against Iran, accusing it of seeking to
develop nuclear weapons.
Tehran denies the claim, saying its program
aims to generate electricity, and it has so
far rejected a demand by the U.N. Security
Council that it give up uranium enrichment,
a key part of the nuclear process that can
produce either fuel for a reactor or
material for a warhead.
More than 17,000 Revolutionary Guards
forces, along with some 1,500 warships,
boats and aircraft are taking part in the
week-long maneuvers in a 100,000 square mile
area of the Gulf.
Iran
Says Tests Flying Boat
April 04, 2006
Reuters
India Defence
link to original article
Tehran
-- Iran on Tuesday successfully tested a
"super-modern flying boat", state television
said, giving another vague description of
military hardware Iranian forces are testing
in [Persian] Gulf wargames.
The Defense Ministry was not immediately
able to give a clear description of the new
vessel but told Reuters it was not a form of
hovercraft.
Iran's navy used to have one of the world's
largest hovercraft fleets before the 1979
Islamic revolution. Military experts say
only about 10 decrepit vessels remain in
service.
State television did not show the "flying
boat".
"A super-modern flying boat was successfully
tested in the 'Great Prophet' wargame in
Persian Gulf waters," state television said.
"Because of its hull's advanced design, no
radar at sea or in the air can locate it. It
can lift out of the water. It is wholly
domestically built and can launch missiles
with precise targeting while moving," it
added.
Earlier in the wargames that started on
Friday, Iran said it had tested a
radar-evading rocket and the Hoot (whale)
underwater missile which could outpace any
enemy warship.
On Monday, Iran's Revolutionary Guard test
fired a torpedo which it said was being
mass-produced in Iran.
State television said another missile would
be tested on Tuesday afternoon.
Iran rarely gives enough details of its
military hardware for analysts to determine
whether Tehran is making genuine advances or
simply producing defiant propaganda while
pressure ratchets up on its nuclear program.
Although Iran can draw on huge manpower, its
naval and air-force technology is largely
dismissed as obsolete.
The United States said it was possible that
Iran had developed weapons that could evade
sonar and radar but warned the Islamic
Republic had a tendency to "boast and
exaggerate".
Although Iran's military technology might
not be highly advanced, analysts say Iran
would not need much know-how to cause chaos
in vital oil shipping channels.
They say Iran could be testing arms in the
Strait of Hormuz, a key tanker nexus, to
dissuade Israel and the United States from
taking military action against Tehran's
nuclear program.
Iran has been referred to the UN Security
Council after failing to convince the world
that its atomic scientists are working
exclusively on power stations and not
branching into weapons.
Russian MP Lashes Out at Iran Over "Flexing
Muscles"
April 04, 2006
MosNews
mosnews.com
link to original article
The chairman of the Russian State Duma
(lower chamber of parliament) International
Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachyov has
said that the latest demonstration of
military force by Iran was inappropriate,
RIA Novosti reported.
“I think that such a demonstration of force
by Tehran is not quite appropriate now, as
nobody, not even the most radical opponents
of Iran’s nuclear programme in the U.S., is
discussing the use of force, even
hypothetically,” Kosachyov said.
His comments followed the Iran’s testing of
a new Fajr-3 missile during a military
exercise in the Persian Gulf on April 2.
Such actions by Iran are counter-productive
and do not create the necessary atmosphere
of trust at consultations and talks about
the Iranian nuclear programme, the
parliamentarian said.
The technical and tactical characteristics
of the Iranian missile remain unknown,
Kosachyov indicated. “So far we have nothing
except the assertion by the Iranian military
and by politicians that it is superior to
other similar missiles, but I see no reason
to believe these statements,” he said.
Kosachyov believes that the missile test and
the discussions on Iran’s nuclear programme
by the international community are
connected.
“It is obvious that Tehran is flexing its
muscles to forestall any discussion of a
possible use of force against Iran,” he
said.
Kosachyov also thinks that Iran should give
more attention to the negotiations on
setting up a joint venture for uranium
enrichment with Russia instead of
demonstrating force.
“I would be happy if Tehran showed more
flexibility on the well-known Russian offer
of joint uranium enrichment instead of
staking everything on the demonstration of
new kinds of arms,” he said.
Steinmeier in Washington Discusses Iran
April 04, 2006
Deutsche Welle Online
DW staff / AFP (jp)
link to original article
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
Steinmeier is on an official two day visit
to the US, ahead of a trip to Washington by
German Chancellor Angela Merkel scheduled
for May.
In his second Washington visit in two
months, Steinmeier held talks with US
officials on the Iranian nuclear crisis and
the Middle East Monday ahead of talks with
US counterpart Condoleezza Rice Tuesday.
Steinmeier met with White House National
Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and
congressional leaders on Monday before
meeting with Senate majority leader Bill
Frist and Rice for discussions expected to
focus on the Iranian nuclear program,
Israeli and Palestinian election results and
the situation in Belarus and the Balkans.
Paving
the way
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said
that President George W. Bush telephoned
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday to
brief her about Iran, Belarus, Rice's trip
over the weekend to Iraq, and other matters.
Steinmeier's trip is intended to pave the
way for a US visit by Merkel in May.
He and Hadley discussed Iraq, Iran, Ukraine,
the West's approach to Hamas in light of its
victory in the Palestinian elections and
last month's landmark nuclear deal between
the United States and India, German Foreign
Ministry spokesman Martin Jنger said.
Steinmeier last week criticized the nuclear
pact, in which the United States agreed to
provide nuclear technology in exchange for
India separating its civil and military
atomic programs, as "not helpful" in light
of the dispute with Iran over its nuclear
program.
Direct
talks between Washington and Iran?
The talks with Rice will also cover Iran's
disputed nuclear ambitions, last week's
Israeli elections, aid to the Palestinian
territories after the Hamas poll victory,
Belarus and the Balkans, Jنger said.
The meeting is expected to address the
possibility of direct talks between
Washington and Tehran, which the US
government has insisted would be limited to
the situation in Iraq.
European negotiators have expressed hope
that US-Iranian talks could bring a
breakthrough in efforts to persuade Tehran
to freeze its uranium enrichment activities,
which Western powers fear could be used to
create fuel for an atomic bomb.
Failed
negotiations
Rice was in Berlin Thursday for a meeting of
the five permanent members of the United
Nations Security Council -- Britain, China,
France, Russia and the United States -- plus
Germany on the Iranian nuclear program.
Ministers of the six countries discussed the
road ahead one day after the council adopted
a non-binding statement urging Iran to halt
all uranium enrichment activities within 30
days.
Britain, France and Germany have led
negotiations with Iran over its nuclear
program but the talks broke down in January
when a defiant Tehran said it would resume
sensitive nuclear research.
As Liquor Business Booms, Bootleggers Risk
the Lash
April 04, 2006
The New York Times
Nazila Fathi
link to original article
TEHRAN
-- For more than 27 years, Iran's Islamic
leaders have waged an uphill battle to
cleanse the country of bootleg liquor. Since
the revolution in 1979, the government has
banned alcoholic drinks and frequently
flogged those who drank them. The small
community of Christians and Jews was
exempted, but could not sell alcohol to
Muslims.
In the latest effort to curb the widespread
consumption and distribution of alcohol, the
new conservative Parliament recently
increased the punishment for selling or
drinking it. Offenders still get 74 lashes,
but now also receive a hefty fine and from
three months to a year in prison, twice the
maximum sentence than under the old law.
Even so, one seller, who calls himself Allan
for fear of retribution, says business is so
good that it is worth the fine and the
flogging.
"I tell myself that the fine does not even
come to the tax that I should be paying," he
said. "The demand is high and the income is
excellent. It is hard to quit."
Every month, newspapers report that tens of
thousands of bottles of illicit liquor are
confiscated by the police around the
country. The Mehr news agency last month
quoted a senior security official, Gen.
Hooshang Hosseini, as saying that the amount
of liquor in the country was increasing at
an alarming rate.
Despite the crackdown, there is no sense of
an alcohol shortage. With one phone call,
one can get anything from smuggled
French-made wine to Russian or homemade
Armenian vodka. One bootlegger delivers the
goods on a scooter, wrapping bottles in
black plastic bags and hiding them in a
saddlebag. Allan puts them in the trunk of
his car.
Before the revolution, about a dozen Iranian
factories produced beer, vodka and wine. The
Iranian grape is so good for making spicy
wine that Australian Shiraz, sometimes known
as Syrah, is made from the same grape that
grows in Iran's southern city of Shiraz,
which gave the wine its name.
In fact, the Islamic leaders are caught in a
bewildering situation. Islam forbids the
consumption of alcohol and the Koran
explicitly calls intoxicants "the
abominations of Satan's handiwork."
But drinking and wine are integral parts of
Persian culture. Mey, the word for wine, and
Saki, the wine pourer, have been the central
theme of Persian poetry for more than a
thousand years.
Most poems by Iran's popular 14th-century
poet, Shamsudin Mohammad Hafiz, who was from
Shiraz, revolve around wine.
"A rose without the glow of a lover bears no
joy," he wrote. "Without wine to drink the
spring brings no joy."
Wine in ancient Persia predates the birth of
French wine. The earliest evidence of wine
making dates from 5400 B.C., in Haji Firuz
Hills, near Western Azerbaijan Province,
south of where the city of Orumieh is today.
"The French are in fact jealous about that
because the earliest evidence in France goes
back to 500 B.C.," said Rémy Boucharlat, a
French archaeologist who works in the
southern archaeological sites in Iran.
After the election of Mohammad Khatami, a
reformist, as president in 1997, the
government allowed drugstores to freely sell
pure grain alcohol, without the dangerous
chemical methanol. Until then only doctors
were permitted to get a limited number of
bottles for medical use.
Since then more than 40 factories, some of
which have imported machinery from China and
Europe, are competing in the market. A thin
plastic bottle of 600 milliliters, known
here as pocket size, has few indications of
medical use, but is available in stores for
under $3. The common recipe is to mix one
shot of alcohol with two shots of juice,
preferably pineapple.
One factory, which produced beer and wine
before the revolution, was producing 20,000
bottles of alcohol a day until the
government forced it to add Bitrex, a
substance that made the alcohol too bitter
to drink. Its sales have dropped to 3,000
bottles a day. Nonetheless, the rule has not
been enforced on all other producers, so
pure alcohol is still widely available.
One senior official, who spoke on condition
of anonymity for fear of retribution, said
the decision to permit such widespread
production of alcohol was made to limit the
number of deaths and casualties caused by
illegal drinks. Some 19 people were killed
in 2004 after drinking bad bootleg liquor.
"A lot of people had turned to drugs such as
opium because they were cheaper and more
accessible," said the official.
After the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq,
the availability of alcohol only increased.
Different kinds of liquor are now smuggled
into Iran from Iraqi Kurdistan. Different
flavors of Absolut are available on the
black market for $21 a bottle; a bottle of
Baileys costs $43.
Allan, the liquor seller, said he was
arrested once during the student
demonstrations of 2003 on his way home from
a delivery. The police thought he was among
the pro-democracy protesters. He said he was
put in jail for a month and beaten every day
until police officers went to search his
house and found his basement full of liquor.
"From then on, it took me a day to get out,"
he said. "The judge asked me if they were
for my personal use and I said yes. He fined
me 12 million rials," equal to about $1,300,
"and a month in prison," he said, adding
that he was allowed to buy himself out of
his prison term for a little more than $3 a
day.
Business is so good, Allan said, that he
selects his customers. "I try to avoid the
alcoholics because they have no patience and
they drive me crazy," he said, as his
cellphone interrupted him every few minutes
and he had to jot down long lists for
delivery.
The only time business is slow is during the
Shiite mourning month of Muharram, Allan
said. His more than 100 customers are
reduced to just a few. The rest of the year
he works up to 18 hours a day.
"The only problem with the job is that it is
hard to get married," he said. "Families are
reluctant to let their daughters marry
someone who can get arrested any day."
Today Tehran, Tomorrow the World
March 26, 2006
Time
Charles Krauthammer
link to original article
Like many physicists who worked on the
Manhattan Project, Richard Feynman could not
get the Bomb out of his mind after the war.
"I would see people building a bridge," he
wrote. "And I thought, they're crazy, they
just don't understand, they don't
understand. Why are they making new things?
It's so useless."
Feynman was convinced man had finally
invented something that he could not control
and that would ultimately destroy him. For
six decades we have suppressed that thought
and built enough history to believe
Feynman's pessimism was unwarranted. After
all, soon afterward, the most aggressive
world power, Stalin's Soviet Union, acquired
the Bomb, yet never used it. Seven more
countries have acquired it since and never
used it either. Even North Korea, which
huffs and puffs and threatens every once in
a while, dares not use it. Even Kim Jong II
is not suicidal.
But that's the point. We're now at the dawn
of an era in which an extreme and fanatical
religious ideology, undeterred by the usual
calculations of prudence and
self-preservation, is wielding state power
and will soon be wielding nuclear power.
We have difficulty understanding the
mentality of Iran's newest rulers. Then
again, we don't understand the mentality of
the men who flew into the World Trade Center
or the mobs in Damascus and Tehran who chant
"Death to America"--and Denmark(!)--and
embrace the glory and romance of martyrdom.
This atavistic love of blood and death and,
indeed, self-immolation in the name of God
may not be new--medieval Europe had an
abundance of millennial Christian sects--but
until now it has never had the means to
carry out its apocalyptic ends.
That is why Iran's arriving at the threshold
of nuclear weaponry is such a signal
historical moment. It is not just that its
President says crazy things about the
Holocaust. It is that he is a fervent
believer in the imminent reappearance of the
12th Imam, Shi'ism's version of the Messiah.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been
reported as saying in official meetings that
the end of history is only two or three
years away. He reportedly told an associate
that on the podium of the General Assembly
last September, he felt a halo around him
and for "those 27 or 28 minutes, the leaders
of the world did not blink ... as if a hand
was holding them there and it opened their
eyes to receive" his message. He believes
that the Islamic revolution's raison
d'êtreis to prepare the way for the
messianic redemption, which in his
eschatology is preceded by worldwide
upheaval and chaos. How better to light the
fuse for eternal bliss than with a nuclear
flame?
Depending on your own beliefs, Ahmadinejad
is either mystical or deranged. In either
case, he is exceedingly dangerous. And Iran
is just the first. With infinitely
accelerated exchanges of information helping
develop whole new generations of scientists,
extremist countries led by similarly extreme
men will be in a position to acquire nuclear
weaponry. If nothing is done, we face not
proliferation but hyperproliferation. Not
just one but many radical states will get
weapons of mass extinction, and then so will
the fanatical and suicidal terrorists who
are their brothers and clients.
That will present the world with two
futures. The first is Feynman's vision of
human destruction on a scale never seen. The
second, perhaps after one or two cities are
lost with millions killed in a single day,
is a radical abolition of liberal democracy
as the species tries to maintain itself by
reverting to strict authoritarianism--a
self-imposed expulsion from the Eden of
post-Enlightenment freedom.
Can there be a third future? That will
depend on whether we succeed in holding
proliferation at bay. Iran is the test case.
It is the most dangerous political entity on
the planet, and yet the world response has
been catastrophically slow and reluctant.
Years of knowingly useless negotiations,
followed by hesitant international
resolutions, have brought us to only the
most tentative of steps--referral to a
Security Council that lacks unity and
resolve. Iran knows this and therefore
defiantly and openly resumes its headlong
march to nuclear status. If we fail to
prevent an Iranian regime run by apocalyptic
fanatics from going nuclear, we will have
reached a point of no return. It is not just
that Iran might be the source of a great
conflagration but that we will have
demonstrated to the world that for those
similarly inclined there is no serious
impediment.
Our planet is 4,500,000,000 years old, and
we've had nukes for exactly 61. No one knows
the precise prospects for human extinction,
but Feynman was a mathematical genius who
knew how to calculate odds. If he were to
watch us today about to let loose the agents
of extinction, he'd call a halt to all
bridge building.
