Today: September 9, 2010

 

Iran Round Up

Posted: Mon 5th October 2009 6.12 PM  | Author: David Soakell

One week ago, Iran fired some of its most powerful missiles as they continued to dismiss any possible sanctions the UN may throw at Iran.  

Among the missiles tested, according to Iranian state media, were the Shahab-3 and Sajjil. Both these missiles have a range of more than 1,000 miles, and are capable of hitting Israel, Europe, and United States military bases. 

This past Sunday, Iran fired a number of short-range missiles. Military leaders said they had also tested a multiple missile launcher for the first time, and had successfully fired two missiles at once.

The announcement of the "two-day war games" was made at the same time as Iranian leaders admitted the existence of an alleged secret uranium enrichment site. “Allah willing, this plant will be put into operation soon, and will blind the eyes of the enemies,” the Supreme Leader's Office said in an official announcement.  Iranian officials said the exercises were unconnected to the discovery of the site, and had been planned for some time. Government-run media quoted military leaders as saying the exercises would serve as a message for “arrogant countries which intend to intimidate.”  On Monday, Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi appeared on state television to threaten Israel with destruction in case of an Israeli strike on Iran. “If this happens... its ultimate result would be that it expedites the Zionist regime's last breath,” he said. Vahidi claimed that Israel is “on a slope of destruction,” and that its “lifespan is today coming to an end,” whether or not it attempts to strike Iranian nuclear sites.

On Friday, 25th September 2009 Iran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it had a second uranium enrichment plant under construction. Suspicions concerning a parallel, concealed enrichment program were in fact circulating for some time before the announcement. Iran reportedly disclosed the information to the IAEA because it discovered that Western intelligence agencies became aware of this parallel program and wanted to avoid further embarrassment.  

The main question is, of course, what is the purpose of this construction. According to the information released by the US, this hitherto unknown facility is located inside a mountain near the ancient city of Qom and designed to hold some 3000 gas centrifuges, the machines that perform the enrichment process. Iran's main enrichment plant, located at Natanz, can accommodate some 54,000 gas centrifuge machines. 

Britain played a key role in gathering intelligence to expose Iran’s secret nuclear facility, according to Western diplomatic sources. Officials in Pittsburgh said that the British intelligence services played a “big part” in the hunt for concealed uranium enrichment capacity in Iran. French and US intelligence agencies were also involved in the operation that led to exposure of the secret underground plant. Israel was among a number of other countries aware of what was being built.

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