A "peaceful nuclear program" characterized by secrecy and subterfuge, and an advancing missile program with help from a country that has spent decades playing a nuclear shell game: sure, those are completely unrelated. "Iran's secret nuclear base," by Marco Giannangeli for the Sunday Express, March 14:
Iran's lurch towards becoming a nuclear power took another stride last night after reports of a new missile-launching facility.
Satellite images of the complex reinforced concerns that the Islamic Republic is being aided by North Korea.
Iran unveiled the Simorgh (Phoenix) space launch vehicle (SLV) on February 3 but has not publicly revealed the location of the rocket's launch complex.
According to Jane's, the London-based intelligence group, new satellite images show a launch pad 6.5 miles north-east of the existing Semnan site. It could ultimately launch Tehran's next-generation Simorgh rocket, said experts. Worryingly, the nature of construction suggests that Iran has been collaborating with Pyongyang.
Last month President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proclaimed that Iran was officially a "nuclear state" after allegedly producing its first batch of uranium enriched to a higher level. The claims, made before hundreds of thousands of cheering Iranians on the 31st anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, came a day after the US imposed tougher sanctions.
Mr Ahmadinejad repeated that Iran was pursuing nuclear energy and had no intention of producing nuclear weapons.
However, satellite images taken on that day revealed Simorgh and Safir-2 rockets displayed in Tehran's Azadi Square.
The new site includes a gantry tower which is 43 feet wide, approximately 60 feet tall "and has a cliff-side flame bucket nearly as high as the tower itself". A Jane's report said: "It appears midway towards completion," adding that the launch pad could easily accommodate the 88-foot Simorgh if the gantry were to be extended by 33 feet.
It went on: "The development of the Semnan facility and the Simorgh SLV both demonstrate the likelihood of collaboration with North Korea in Iran's missile programme.
"The platforms seen on the new gantry tower resemble those seen on the gantry tower at North Korea's new launch pad at Tongchang. A drainage pit 570 feet directly in front of the pad also mirrors one at Pyongyang's new west-coast launch site.
"Similarly, the first stage of the Simorgh strongly resembles the North Korean Unha-2, with four clustered engines and nearly the same dimensions."
The respected information group concluded: "Given these investments in its missile infrastructure, and despite the United States attempting to garner support for further sanctions against Iran for its nuclear programme, Tehran appears determined to continue developing its missile and rocket capabilities in the foreseeable future."
Last night Shadow Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox warned: "Iran is our single biggest emerging threat."
He added: "If Iran becomes a nuclear weapon state, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt will be next.
"After all that we did to try to stop nuclear proliferation at the end of the Cold War, failing with Iran will lead to a nuclear arms race in the world's most unstable region."
Iran works on new missile base with help from North Korea
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Maybe ol' George W. Bush wasn't so far off with that whole "Axis of Evil" thing after all.
"peaceful" power plants used for electricity do not require Missile Launch towers...
They may call their monster Simorgh/ Phoenix.
But the *real* Order of the Phoenix is the House of Israel (which is that bush which burns with the living fire of the Holy One and is not thereby consumed) and among all others who defy and resist the Mohammedan death-worshippers.
"After all that we did to try to stop nuclear proliferation at the end of the Cold War, failing with Iran will lead to a nuclear arms race in the world's most unstable region."
I'm beginning to wonder who the unstable ones are, really.
Inside of a decade, Iran will have not only nuclear weapons, but an ICBM delivery capability. By then, the Iranians will have achieved the strategic/diplomatic status of mini-superpower, with the likelihood of the US being drawn into some sort of arms-control negotiations with Iran...(or even worse, should a naive "internationalist" inhabit the White House, a global disarmament treaty which our adversaries will undoubtedly cheat on).
It's a brave new world.
When Iran gets the "bomb", all the rest of middle eastern countries will have one or be working to get one. Chances of war in the middle east and war worldwide will grow exponentially. Civilized (if there is such a thing) mutual assured destruction will be a thing of the past.
Spot On, you're spot on. Iran gets the bomb, and the nuclear genie is out of the bottle big-time; we'll pine away for the proliferation days of AQ Khan. Everybody and their mother will be seeking nuclear weapons, including small Gulf states and even non-state actors. With the passions and irrationality that predominate in that part of the world, it's assured that sooner or later, someone will exact a pound of flesh.
God help Israel.
And Dubya Bush was supposed to be the stupidest president in American history! What are the NYSlimes and Wshington Compost saying now?
"Peaceful" nuclear energy for Iran? Riiight! OK, ya wanna play like this? You've probably been wondering about all those radar blips headed your way? Please rest assured, you have nothing to be concerned about. They are merely a few hundred peaceful bunker busters, you see. I'm sure you understand. ("Technical Sergeant Smith, you did load bunker busters, didn't you?")
Awww-ww c'mon everybody - Those who watch '24' know Jack will protect us.
He cares about terrorists and only kills them when he absolutely has to... and he never enjoys it.
NVUH
i've said this for several years now... both NK and Iran are using smoke and mirrors. it is IMO, that their ICBM activities are red herrings to divert attention away from what they already are planning/doing. they are both making "pop" bombs: small 1 to 2 kiloton nukes. the sizes of which can be placed inside a vehicle, and have virtually no radiologic signatures. stealth WMD. similar to the old "suitcase" bombs of the Cold War.
AQ Khan has been one of the masterminds behind them, and we know from previous two NK detonations, both which have been estimated to only yield between 1 and (by the Russians' highest estimate) 10 kilotons. according to some sources, Pakistani technology was all over the NK nukes. the UN, media and technological pundits, and even official governmental departments of most countries all passed off the NK pop bombs as "duds" and mistakes.
IMO they weren't mistakes.
the true Axis of Evil: Syria-Iran-NK now have these pop bombs, and they are playing a game with ICBM rockets and rocket launchers by making everybody follow that bouncing ball. mark my words, it is a diversionary trick.
i made a bet right after Obama's inauguration with another blogger that there would be a nuclear detonation somewhere in the world, deliberate - not accident, sometime before the end of 2010. i'm still standing by that bet.
Last night Shadow Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox warned: "Iran is our single biggest emerging threat."
He added: "If Iran becomes a nuclear weapon state, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt will be next.
"After all that we did to try to stop nuclear proliferation at the end of the Cold War, failing with Iran will lead to a nuclear arms race in the world's most unstable region."
Well, Dr Fox, what will you and Cameron do to stop Iran, should you become Defence Secretary in just over 50 days time? As far as I can see, there is only one way top stop Iran now, and that is by overwhelming brute force - destroying their nuclear installations and targetting for destruction the Revolutionary Guards, Basiji thugs and the Iranian dictatorship itself. You see, it eventually worked with Hitler after six years of war at massive cost, which was the bitter fruit of spending five years appeasing him and allowing him to rebuild Germany's Armed Forces and giving him bloodless conquests like the Rhineland, Austria and Czechoslovakia, instead of nipping him in the bud in say 1935, 1936, or 1937 at the latest, when it could have been done at far less cost, just for a few months of so-called peace. And we all know what became of that.
According to them,three wrongs make a right. We all know how they love their threes.