Frontier India Strategic and Defence - News, Analysis, Opinion

Written on July 10, 2008 – 9:53 am | by Frontier India Strategic and Defence |

Commander of IRGC Airforce Brigadier General Hossein Salami said on Wednesday that the IRGC missiles have been loaded on launching pads and are ready to target enemies at any time. As per the IRNA report, IRGC’s Public Relations Office, the commander made the remarks during military war games code-named ‘Great Prophet (PBUH)’ on Wednesday where a number of long-range and middle-range missiles were test-fired at hypothetical enemies positions. During the military maneuver, the IRGC test fired various ground to ground, middle and long range missiles named Shahab, Fath and Zelzal. Military experts say that the missiles can be used under various climatic conditions.

Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns, who holds responsibility for the Iran portfolio, told the US House Foreign Affairs Committee that “While Iran seeks to create the perception of advancement in its nuclear program, real progress has been more modest….It’s apparent that Iran has not yet perfected [uranium] enrichment and, as a direct result of UN sanctions, Iran’s ability to procure technology or items of significance to its missile programs, even dual-use items, is being impaired.”

As per Harretz daily from Israel, Uzi Rubin, who was a program director of Homa, under which Israel developed the Arrow anti-missile system, is convinced that this was not a new version of the Iranian (Shahab-3) ballistic missile.

“From what I saw, this is an old version of the Shahab-3, and contrary to their claims, it is not capable of reaching 2,000 kilometers, only 1,300 kilometers,” he said on Wednesday. Rubin raised the possibility that a version of Shahab-3 with a 2,000 km range has still not been tested or is still not operational. “Without being hasty, I note that the Iranians have a tendency to exaggerate to a certain extent the capabilities of their missiles,” he said.

Experts say that the Shahab-3 is based on a liquid fuel rocket that requires fueling prior to launch, a time consuming process that leaves the weapon vulnerable to being
identified from the air.

But Dr. Nathan Farber of the Technion in Haifa says that the Iranians are in the process of developing a more advanced version of the Shahab, known as the Ashura, with a range of 2,000 km. According to Farber’s assessment, the new missile uses solid propellants, which makes it easier to launch, although unlike the Shahab-3, its flight time to Israel is estimated at 14 minutes, compared to 11 of the older missile.

Intelligence analysts estimate that Iran has several hundred Shahab-3 in its arsenal, but a much larger stockpile, of several thousand shorter range missiles (up to 400 km) capable of targeting U.S. forces in Iraq or their allies in the Persian Gulf.

The Pentagon has upped its demand for European Missile Defence Shield. “Iran’s development of ballistic missiles is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and completely inconsistent with Iran’s obligations to the world,” White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said to reporters traveling with President Bush in Japan. “The Iranians should stop the development of ballistic missiles, which could be used as a delivery vehicle for a potential nuclear weapon, immediately.”

The test “addresses the doubts raised by the Russians that the Iranians won’t have a longer-range ballistic missile for 10 to 20 years,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said during a Pentagon news conference today. “The fact is, they just tested a pretty extended-range [missile].

The situation demonstrates the emerging missile threat from the Middle East, Pentagon officials said, and the need for a missile defense in Europe. Yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed an agreement with the Czech Republic to emplace a missile-defense radar in that country. The United States continues talks with Poland to emplace the missiles.

“We face with the Iranians — and so do our allies and friends — a growing missile threat that is getting ever longer and ever deeper, and where the Iranian appetite for nuclear technology to this point is still unchecked,” Rice said in Prague yesterday.

“I think that the reality is that there is a lot of signaling going on [among Iran, Israel and the United States]. I think everybody recognizes what the consequences of any kind of a conflict would be,” Gates said. “This government is working hard to make sure that the diplomatic and economic approach to dealing with Iran, and trying to get the Iranian government to change its policies, is the strategy and approach that continues to dominate.”