Iran buys surface-to-surface missiles capable of hitting Europe

[Sarge]

If I were in charge, now would be the time I would step back and say "Hey Europe, you're right. Let's give sanctions a try"

There would be a pause of about 10 seconds and the Euroweenies will start being nice and asking for our help

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/709888.html

Iran has purchased surface-to-surface missiles from North Korea with a range of 2,500 kilometers, the head of the Israel Defense Forces Intelligence Branch, Major General Amos Yadlin, said Wednesday.

While Iran already possessed missiles capable of reaching Israel, the new weapons pose a threat for countries in Europe and parts of the Middle East that have now come into Iranian range.

Some of the missiles have already arrived in Iran, Yadlin said in a lecture in memory of Israel's sixth president Haim Herzog, who was also head of the IDF Intelligence Branch.


The missiles are known in the West as BM-25s, operate on liquid fuel and are single-stage. The BM-25 was originally manufactured in the Soviet Union, where the first generation, adapted for use by Soviet submarines and able to carry a nuclear warhead, was known as the SSN6. After the Russians retired the missiles from service, they sold them to the North Koreans, who developed them to carry a heavier payload.

With this purchase the Iranians have leap-frogged over their Shihab-4 missile with its range of 2,000 kilometers.

Iran worked for years on the development of the Shihab-3, which has a range of 1,300 kilometers, and conducted numerous tests. They also developed a cone with improved ability to enter the atmosphere, which meant it was more accurate.

The fact that the Shihab-3, when fired from certain areas of Iran, could hit Israel, spurred Israel on in its development of the Arrow missile, which can intercept the Shihab-3.

The Iranians are known to be at the early stages of developing two more long-range missiles. However American intelligence sources say Iran is at an advanced stage of developing a missile that can carry a nuclear warhead.

The United States has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the details of the Iranian missile program.

North Korea has longer range missiles that have been tested a number of times outside its borders. In one case a missile flew over Japanese airspace during a test.

[Cskin]

France is already ordering white flags and Korans.

Right here... right now... is where the relevance of the Security Council is determined. If the UN does nothing.... then wait for the next three day holiday and push that effing building into the ocean. They could simply eff up a one car funeral procession.

[ashburnskinsfan]

If I were in charge, now would be the time I would step back and say "Hey Europe, you're right. Let's give sanctions a try"

There would be a pause of about 10 seconds and the Euroweenies will start being nice and asking for our help

You mean the United Kingdom Euroweenies who fought the Germans and Japanese for more than two years while the USA looked on?

[Raub]

No worries.

Islam is peace.

[OaktonSkins/BushFan]

Ah, don't worry guys. Our leftists friends have assured us that the rhetoric coming out of Iran is just talk. Oh, and we should definitely not concern ourselves with the nuclear reactors, centrifuges, and now ICBMs.

Let's see....

strong threats to the US + national policy of "wiping Israel off the map" + state sponsor of terrorism + nuclear reactors + centrifuges + recent high-tech air defense purchases from Russia + ICBMs from North Korea = nothing to worry about.


Crazy liberal math, huh?

[skinfan13]

the united nations is useless, they havent been able to provent genocide anywhere effectivly, troops are NOT alowed to stop the killing anywhere, they sit back all high and mighty believing they control the fate of the world. some would say the US does the same thing, i counter with at least we DO something about the worlds problems.


now is the time for the UN to step up and stop this madness, otherwise i want our 3 acres of land in new york back, the UN can move to moscow or somewhere else stupid and cold (obvious metaphor intended).

[MisterPinstripe]

You mean the United Kingdom Euroweenies who fought the Germans and Japanese for more than two years while the USA looked on?

And who saved their tushies. England is OK, its the Germans, French, and other euros that have no spine. Though France is banning islam.

[Seabee1973]

No worries.

Islam is peace.

Not really

[ashburnskinsfan]

And who saved their tushies. England is OK, its the Germans, French, and other euros that have no spine. Though France is banning islam.

Calling the Brits "weenies" is offensive, ignorant and lacking class. Sarge ought to be ashamed of himself.

I'm not a supporter of German and French policy, but the US might have a different perspective if two modern global ground wars had been fought in its backyard.

The Germans have good reason to be reluctant to initiate war, and as you say the French are doing more to prevent adoption of Islamic fundamentalist behavior by their own citizens than any Western society.

[Painkiller]

The latest news on Iran.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060428/...ran_nuclear_31

VIENNA, Austria - Iran has defied a U.N. Security Council call to freeze uranium enrichment and is stonewalling efforts to determine if it is developing nuclear arms, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday in a report that strengthened Western calls for sanctions.


The United States and its allies reacted quickly, with Britain pledging to introduce a resolution next week for the council to issue a mandatory order for Iran to abandon uranium enrichment. Russia and China, however, have sought to avoid a showdown and opposed escalating pressures on Tehran.

President Bush said "the world is united and concerned" about what he called Iran's "desire to have not only a nuclear weapon but the capacity to make a nuclear weapon or the knowledge to make a nuclear weapon."

But, reflecting the lack of consensus on punishing Iran, he added, "I think the diplomatic options are just beginning."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was defiant, saying that whatever resolution the Security Council adopts, it cannot make Iran give up its nuclear program. "The Iranian nation won't give a damn about such useless resolutions," he told a cheering crowd in northwestern Iran.

The eight-page report, drawn up by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei for the Security Council and obtained by The Associated Press, contained few new revelations.

But it is larded with phrases reflecting Iran's refusal to cooperate with the Vienna-based agency, stymieing IAEA efforts to determine whether Tehran has made any efforts to build atomic weapons during 25 years of nuclear activity — most of it clandestine.

"Iran declined to discuss these matters," the report said of the IAEA's questions about Tehran's enrichment program. "Iran continues to decline the agency's request for a copy of the document," it says about plans showing how to mold highly enriched uranium into the shape needed for a nuclear bomb.

"After more than three years of agency efforts to seek clarity about all aspects of Iran's nuclear program, the existing gaps in knowledge continue to be a matter of concern," the report said. "Any progress in that regard requires full transparency and active cooperation by Iran."

The report's primary importance was to serve formal notice that Iran ignored an informal 30-day deadline set by the council for suspending by Friday all activities linked to uranium enrichment.

Iran, which insists its program has only the peaceful purpose of producing fuel for nuclear reactors to generate electricity, played down the report — and the unanswered questions.

"From our point of view, these few questions are not important. The main questions have been settled," Mohammed Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told Iranian state television.

Contending the report "does not contain negative points," he said it shows the IAEA has the capacity to investigate Iran's nuclear program and called the effort by some nations to have the Security Council take up the matter "completely wrong and misleading."

But with the report in, the council will now debate further steps, including the potential threat of sanctions and military action if Iran continues to defy the international community.

"We are concerned about the continued work that Iran is doing to acquire nuclear weapons capability," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters at U.N. headquarters. "We do think there's a sense of urgency here and we hope that we can get council action just as soon as possible."

Other world leaders expressed concern and underlined the need for international unity in dealing with Iran, although the common message appeared to be a reluctance to pursue coercion rather than diplomacy.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said that while the report was worrisome, "we continue, nevertheless, to say to Iran that the door to negotiation is not closed."

Germany's foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, echoed that sentiment. "We maintain that the only solution is a diplomatic one," he said.

Russia and China, which have important business dealings with Iran, have strongly opposed taking harsh steps against the Tehran regime, arguing that would worsen the dispute. As two of the five permanent members on the Security Council, they have the power to veto its actions.

Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak described ElBaradei's report as a "very serious document," telling the Interfax news agency that the Kremlin would study it "very carefully."

The Chinese government indicated it had not changed its mind about opposing tough action.

"All we want is to work for a diplomatic solution because this region is already complicated, there are a lot of problems in the region, and we should not do anything that would cause the situation (to be) more complicated," said China's U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya.

Bolton suggested the council was not likely to soon issue a resolution backed by the threat of sanctions or even military force.

"The first resolution would be simple and straightforward, 'making mandatory' last month's council requests on suspension of enrichment and full cooperation with IAEA inspectors," Bolton told The Associated Press in a phone call to Vienna.

"We would give Iran a short time to come into compliance. Then, if Iran doesn't come into compliance, we would consider what the next steps would be ... likely targeted sanctions."

While Bolton did not elaborate, sanctions would not likely be directed at Iran's oil industry, which has a crucial role in meeting the world's energy needs. They could include such measures as freezing Iranian assets and banning overseas travel by its top officials.

The report said Iran's claim to have enriched small amounts of uranium to a level of 3.6 percent purity — fuel grade as opposed to the 90 percent-plus for weapons grade — appeared to be true according to initial analysis of samples taken by IAEA inspectors.

Uranium conversion — an activity linked to enrichment — "is still ongoing," the report added, saying that more than 120 tons had been converted the past eight months. Were it used for weapons, that amount would be enough for more than 15 crude nuclear bombs, experts say.

In one of the few new developments, the report concluded the Iranians may have used undeclared plutonium in conducting small-scale separation experiments.

"The agency cannot exclude the possibility ... that the plutonium analyzed by the agency was derived from source(s) other than declared by Iran," it said. Plutonium separation is one of several suspect Iranian "dual use" activities — those that have peaceful uses but also could be used in a weapons program.

___

[Painkiller]

"All we want is to work for a diplomatic solution because this region is already complicated, there are a lot of problems in the region, and we should not do anything that would cause the situation (to be) more complicated," said China's U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya.

Who's making the situation more complicated, Iran or the west?

[stevenaa]

Europe needs to handle this. They need to do it before this nutjob has nukes. Had they heeded the warnings coming out of Germany, England included, they could have pre-empted WWII.

[Cdowwe]

And in other news, France will present a new resolution regarding Iran to the UN.

[Crazyhorse1]

I'd feel a little better about Iran if we had a competent administration. Unfortunately, there is no possibility the Bush administration can deal with even minor problems, much less serious ones. If your horses are drowning, it's better to change them midstream than be pulled down with them.

Once again liberal are being stupidly misunderstood. We have never advocated not fighting Iran because we haven't understood its dangerousness. It's you right wing nuts that think Iran is a patsy, not us. We liberals don't want to fight Iran now because out leadership is too weak to lead and our fighting force has been overextended by the morons in office.

We don't want to fight or deal with Iran until Bush is history. We don't want to be embarassed and bloodied by another third world country. He's that big a moron

[Buford]

I think if Sarge was in charge, 90% of the Earth would be unable to support any life. Maybe the folks in Australia or New Zealand would still be around, but we wouldn't be.