Russians help Iran with missile threat to Europe
By Con Coughlin
(Filed: 16/10/2005)
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.
Iran puts radicals in charge of nuclear programme
By Philip Sherwell in Washington
(Filed: 09/10/2005)
Iran’s new hardline president has placed his country’s nuclear programme under the control of militant commanders of the Revolutionary Guards, the military’s most committed wing.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has launched a purge of moderates in national and provincial government since his election two months ago, has drafted in fellow radical revolutionaries to top administrative posts – a move that will heighten Western fears over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Many of the new power-brokers are veterans of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds (Jerusalem) Force, in which Mr Ahmadinejad held the rank of brigadier general. The unit is linked to a series of international terrorist attacks and the main backer of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
I suppose the Iranians will be needing those missles to dispose of the radioactive waste from their nuclear breeder power plants. You know, the ones they need because they don’t have enough oil, gas, or coal.
Could the Ruskies really be so short sighted? The same missles that can reach Paris or Berlin can also reach Moscow. What part of Beslan and Nalchik did they not understand?
More importantly, dont the russians realize if the Iranians were to fire nukular warheads at london and paris, the fallout travels east over the former soviet regime?
Sellout is the key word. They are selling their security all in the name of free market military sales. Until we can find someone to buy snow, i suspect to hear alot more 3rd World military upgrades courtesy of the former USSR.
On the flippity side, I guess this is no different than when the Soviet Union was a player. It was all done (by both sides) in the name of the cold war back then.