Russians help Iran with missile threat to Europe
By Con Coughlin
2005/10/17
Telegraph
Former members of the Russian military have been secretly
helping Iran to acquire technology needed to produce missiles capable of
striking European capitals.
The Russians are acting as go-betweens with North Korea as part
of a multi-million pound deal they negotiated between Teheran and Pyongyang in
2003. It has enabled Teheran to receive regular clandestine shipments of top
secret missile technology, believed to be channelled through Russia.
Western intelligence officials believe that the technology will
enable Iran to complete development of a missile with a range of 2,200 miles,
capable of hitting much of Europe. It is designed to carry a 1.2-ton payload,
sufficient for a basic nuclear device.
The revelation raises the stakes in the confrontation between
Iran's Islamic regime and the West - led by the United States and European
countries including Britain.
Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, clashed with
Russian officials over Iran's
nuclear programme during a visit to Moscow yesterday, saying that Teheran
must fulfil its obligations under the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty.
She was later expected to urge President Vladimir Putin to back
a referral of Iran to the United Nations Security Council.
A senior American official said Iran's programme was
"sophisticated and getting larger and more accurate. They have had very
much in mind the payload needed to carry a nuclear weapon.
"I think Putin knows what the Iranians are doing."
Iran is believed to be hiding its weapons development behind
its nuclear power programme, for which it receives Russian support, and has
refused to suspend uranium enrichment or to allow full UN inspections.
John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, told BBC2's Newsnight
that Iran was "determined to get nuclear weapons deliverable on ballistic
missiles it can then use to intimidate not only its own region but possibly to
supply to terrorists".
Iran's longest-range missile is the
Shahab 3, which, with an 800-mile range, could hit Israel. The North Korean
deal will allow the Iranian missile to reach targets far into Europe - including
Rome, Berlin, and much of France.
North Korea has developed a missile, the Taepo Dong 2, that
could reach America's west coast, based on the submarine-launched Soviet SSN6.
Modifications allow it to be fired from a land-based transporter and this
technology is being smuggled to Teheran with Russian help.
Russians have provided production facilities, diagrams and
operating instruction so the missile can be built in Iran. Liquid propellant has
been shipped to Iran. Russian specialists have also been sent to Iran to help
development of its Shahab 5 missile project, which the Iranians hope to have
operational by the end of the decade.
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