Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Seeking Components to Manufacture Nuclear Bombs and Ballistic Missle Capability
Two Iranians work at the zirconium production plant, part of the nuclear facilities in Isfahan, 295 km from Tehran. Iran has been scouring Europe for nuclear bomb technology, a British newspaper said, citing a report by Western intelligence agencies.
The Guardian Unlimited has Secret services say Iran is trying to assemble a nuclear missile
The Iranian government has been successfully scouring Europe for the sophisticated equipment needed to develop a nuclear bomb, according to the latest western intelligence assessment of the country’s weapons programmes.
Scientists in Tehran are also shopping for parts for a ballistic missile capable of reaching Europe, with “import requests and acquisitions … registered almost daily”, the report seen by the Guardian concludes.
The warning came as Iran raised the stakes in its dispute with the United States and the European Union yesterday by notifying the International Atomic Energy Authority that it intended to resume nuclear fuel research next week. Tehran has refused to rule out a return to attempts at uranium enrichment, the key to the development of a nuclear weapon.
Flap: Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Resumes Nuclear Fuel Research
This piece in the Guardian helps to confirm the speculation in the blogosphere that the United States and Israel may be planning a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Flap: Iran Nuclear Watch: Is Washington Planning a Military Strike?
The 55-page intelligence assessment, dated July 1 2005, draws upon material gathered by British, French, German and Belgian agencies, and has been used to brief European government ministers and to warn leading industrialists of the need for vigilance when exporting equipment or expertise to so-called rogue states.
It concludes that Syria and Pakistan have also been buying technology and chemicals needed to develop rocket programmes and to enrich uranium. It outlines the role played by Russia in the escalating Middle East arms build-up, and examines the part that dozens of Chinese front companies have played in North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.
It is a dangerous world with too many rogue states, like North Korea and Iran developing nuclear Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Where is the outcry from the Europeans and the European Union? Certainly, if Iran completes their program they will be able to nuclear blackmail Austria or Italy or France. Is their governmental silence purchased by their lack of resolve to “OFFEND” their immigrant Islamic communities who help pay for their socialist largess?
The assessment declares that Iran has developed an extensive web of front companies, official bodies, academic institutes and middlemen dedicated to obtaining – in western Europe and in the former Soviet Union – the expertise, training, and equipment for nuclear programmes, missile development, and biological and chemical weapons arsenals.
“In addition to sensitive goods, Iran continues intensively to seek the technology and know-how for military applications of all kinds,” it says.
The document lists scores of Iranian companies and institutions involved in the arms race. It also details Tehran’s growing determination to perfect a ballistic missile capable of delivering warheads far beyond its borders.
It notes that Iran harbours ambitions of developing a space programme, but is currently concentrating on upgrading and extending the range of its Shahab-3 missile, which has a range of 750 miles – capable of reaching Israel.
The Shahab-3 missle: and more information here.
The Shahab-3’s Range:
Note that the range of this existing missle threatens Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Israel. By extending its range Europe would be threatened.
Iranian scientists are said to be building wind tunnels to assist in missile design, developing navigation technology, and acquiring metering and calibration technology, motion simulators and x-ray machines designed to examine rocket parts. The next generation of the Shahab (“shooting star” in Persian) should be capable of reaching Austria and Italy.
This story is developing.
Flap notes well that the USS Ronald Reagan nuclear aircraft carrier has been deployed today from San Diego for the Global War on Terror.
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Technorati Tags: Iran, Russia, Israel, Javad Vaeedi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Peter Goss, Turkey, Ali Larijani, Global War on Terror, France, Italy, Austria