Israel must call Obama on Iran's Fateh 313 missile
Iran has produced a new surface-to-surface missile - the Fateh 313 - which has pinpoint accuracy and a range of 500 kilometers (about 310 miles). This is from the description in Iran's government-owned Press TV's YouTube account:
Fateh-313 is a domestically produced missile with a range of
five-hundred kilometers. It uses combined solid fuel and is capable of
striking targets with pinpoint accuracy. The Defense Ministry is
planning to start the mass production of Fateh-313 which was unveiled on
the occasion of the Defense Industry Day. Iran domestically produces a
wide range of missiles, rockets, military hardware and weapons. It says
they're meant to boost its defense might.
Let's go to the videotape.
Israel is not within 500 kilometers of Iran. However, Damascus is 213 kilometers from Tel Aviv and Beirut is 211 kilometers away. Given that Bashar al-Assad and Hezbullah are both clients of Tehran, that's a real concern. Longer range missiles may also not be far away.
Iran's missile program is one of the largest in the Middle East and a
major sticking point to the agreement, according to Reuters. Under the Iran nuclear deal,
any ballistic missile technology is subject to UN Security Council
approval, something US President Barack Obama promised to veto.
An arms embargo on Iranian missiles
remains for another eight years, The New York Times reported; for
conventional weapons another five. Iran, however, said it refused to
follow any part of the deal that would restrict its military
capabilities.
"We will buy, sell and develop any weapons we
need and we will not ask for permission or abide by any resolution for
that," Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said during the unveiling
Saturday, on Iran's Defense Industry Day.
Despite a
blatant disregard for the nuclear deal signed just over a month ago — a
deal Obama hailed as a triumph of "diplomacy" — Iran continued with the
rhetoric that its military power is necessary for Middle Eastern peace.
Now - before Congress votes on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action - is the time to call the Obama administration on this development and stop Iran from immediately violating an agreement which is already far too favorable toward Iran.
Report: Obama covered up N. Korea missile component transfers to Iran during nuke talks
The Washington Free Beacon reports that North Korea transferred advanced missile components to Iran while the P 5+1 talks with Iran were ongoing - and that President Hussein Obama hid that fact from the United Nations (Hat Tip: Gershon D).
Since September more than two shipments of missile parts have been
monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies as they transited from North
Korea to Iran, said officials familiar with intelligence reports who
spoke on condition of anonymity.
Details of the arms shipments were included in President Obama’s
daily intelligence briefings and officials suggested information about
the transfers was kept secret from the United Nations, which is in
charge of monitoring sanctions violations.
...
CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani declined to comment on the missile
component shipments, citing a policy of not discussing classified
information.
But other officials said the transfers included goods covered by the
Missile Technology Control Regime, a voluntary agreement among 34
nations that limits transfers of missiles and components of systems with
ranges of greater than 186 miles.
One official said the transfers between North Korea and Iran included
large diameter engines, which could be used for a future Iranian
long-range missile system.
The United Nations Security Council in June 2010 imposed sanctions on
Iran for its illegal uranium enrichment program. The sanctions prohibit
Iran from purchasing ballistic missile goods and are aimed at blocking
Iran from acquiring “technology related to ballistic missiles capable of
delivering nuclear weapons.”
U.S. officials said the transfers carried out since September appear to be covered by the sanctions.
Other details of the transfers could not be learned. However, U.S.
intelligence agencies in the past have identified Iran’s Islamic
Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) as the main shipper involved in transferring ballistic missile-related materials.
...
A classified State Department cable from October 2009 reveals that Iran is one of North Korea’s key missile customers.
The cable, made public by Wikileaks, states that since the 1980s
North Korea has provided Iran with complete Scud missiles and production
technology used in developing 620-mile-range Nodong missiles.
Additionally, North Korea also supplied Iran with a medium-range
missile called the BM-25 that is a variant of the North Korean Musudan
missile.
“This technology would provide Iran with more advanced missile
technology than currently used in its Shahab-series of ballistic
missiles and could form the basis for future Iranian missile and [space
launch vehicle] designs.”
“Pyongyang’s assistance to Iran’s [space launch vehicle] program
suggests that North Korea and Iran may also be cooperating on the
development of long-range ballistic missiles.”
A second cable
from September 2009 states that Iran’s Safir rocket uses missile
steering engines likely provided by North Korea that are based on
Soviet-era SS-N-6 submarine launched ballistic missiles.
That technology transfer was significant because it has allowed Iran
to develop a self-igniting missile propellant that the cable said “could
significantly enhance Tehran’s ability to develop a new generation of
more-advanced ballistic missiles.”
“All of these technologies, demonstrated in the Safir [space launch
vehicle] are critical to the development of long-range ballistic
missiles and highlight the possibility of Iran using the Safir as a
platform to further its ballistic missile development.”
A spokesman for Spain’s mission to the United Nations, currently in
charge of the world body’s sanctions committee, said the committee has
not received any communications from the United States since Spain took
charge of the panel in January.
If you're waiting for a White House or State Department denial, don't hold your breath.
White House National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan
declined to comment. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf did not
return emails seeking comment.
If you're still wondering whose side President Obama is on, or whether he's seeking to arm Iran with nuclear weapons, I don't think you have to wonder anymore.
US assessment: Iranian rockets could reach US by 2015
A new assessment by the United States National Air and Space Intelligence Center says that Iran's ambitious missile plans could result in it having rockets that could reach the United States by 2015.
The report, the Foreign
Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat Assessment, was prepared by the
National Air and Space Intelligence Center with significant
contributions from the Defense Intelligence Agency Missile and Space
Intelligence Center and the Office of Naval Intelligence. The report's
authors could not determine how many ICBM's the Iranians currently
possess.
The report states that since 2008, Iran has
conducted multiple successful launches of the two-stage Safir space
launch vehicle and has also revealed the larger two-stage Simorgh SLV,
which could serve as a test bed for developing ICBM technologies. Since
2010, Iran has revealed the Qiam-1 SRBM, the fourth generation Fateh-110
SRBM, and claims to be mass-producing anti-ship ballistic missiles.
Iran has modified its Shahab 3 medium-range ballistic missile to extend
its range and effectiveness and also claims to have deployed the
two-stage, solid-propellant Sejjil MRBM.
U.S. intelligence says that Iran has ambitious
ballistic missile and space launch development programs and continues
to attempt to increase the range, lethality, and accuracy of its
ballistic missile force. Iranian ballistic missile forces continue to
train extensively in highly publicized exercises. These exercises enable
Iranian ballistic missile forces to hone wartime operational skills and
evolve new tactics. Iran is fielding increased numbers of theater
ballistic missiles, improving its existing inventory, and is developing
the technical capability to produce an ICBM.
Iran has an extensive missile development
program, and has received support from entities in Russia, China, and
North Korea. The Iranian Shahab 3 MRBM is based on the North Korean No
Dong missile. Iran has modified the Shahab 3 to extend its range and
effectiveness, with the longest range variant reportedly being able to
reach targets at a distance of about 2,000 kilometers. Iran also claims
to have mass-produced Shahab 3 missiles. Iranian solid-propellant rocket
and missile programs are also progressing. Iran has conducted multiple
launches of the Sejjil, a solid-propellant MRBM with a claimed range of
2,000 kilometers. In addition, Iran has conducted multiple launches of
the Safir, a multistage SLV that can serve as a test bed for long-range
ballistic missile technologies.
Breaking: 3 explosions in Iranian missile research facility
I have nothing more on this story other than what you're about to read and that I saw someone else report it on Twitter first without a source. There have been three explosions at an Iranian missile research facility.
Three explosions
were heard in Tehran on Tuesday, in an area where Iran carries out
missile research and storage, BBC Persian reported.
It was not immediately clear if there were injuries or damage in the incident.
What Israeli kids will be doing in school on Thursday
This is what Israeli children are going to be doing at 10:05am on Thursday. There will be a 90-second air raid siren (except in the Gaza envelope), during which they will practice positions for missile attacks. The fact that the kids have to practice this sort of thing is one of the facts of life to which those of us who live here become accustomed. It's part of our reality. The idea is to make it automatic for the kids to do what they are supposed to do - whether that means getting to a shelter or getting down on one's stomach on the floor with one's hands over one's head.
The June 29 report, which was signed by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, states that Tehran "has boosted the lethality and effectiveness of existing systems by improving accuracy and developing new submunition payloads" that extend the destructive power over a broader area than a solid warhead.
According to Bloomberg, the report found that the improvements are in tandem with routine ballistic- missile training that "continues throughout the country" and the addition of "new ships and submarines."
Bloomberg said the report also addresses the Islamic Republic's nuclear program and the assistance it offers to Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas and Iraqi Shiite groups. It also repeated the US assessment that Iran with "sufficient foreign assistance may be technically capable of flight-testing" an intercontinental ballistic missile by 2015.
"There was a theme that Iran is improving the accuracy and lethality of its missiles," Bloomberg quoted Congressional Research Service Iran analyst Kenneth Katzman as saying.
"US government reports have previously always downplayed the accuracy and effectiveness of Iran’s missile forces," he added.
While the Obama administration tries to make the United States' nuclear missile arsenal disappear through drastic cuts to the number of missiles, the Russians are seeking to make their missiles disappear differently. The Russians have developed a technology that covers up the tracks made by their missile launchers from their hiding place to the launch point, making the missiles' locations impossible to pinpoint from satellites. What's worse is that the Russians may sell this technology to countries that have purchased its missiles... including Iran and Syria.
According to reports from foreign sources, Russia will soon equip all of its portable ballistic missile launchers with a system that covers up the traces left on the ground by the launcher’s wheels. These traces aid intelligence sensors, such as espionage satellites, to identify the hiding places of the missiles, which can destroy the missile in advance.
Russia’s Teykovo missile base in the Ivanovo region, where Topol-M SS-27 and RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missiles are stationed, will be the first base to be equipped with the new system. Other Russian missile bases will receive the trace-covering equipment in the coming months.
Russia has not provided precise details pertaining to how the traces of the launcher wheels are covered, but the country will likely adapt it for use with other missiles like the Scud missiles used by the Syrian Army, among others.
It is possible that this equipment might be sold to Iran, which could make use of it on several of its portable missile launchers. These are intended, among other things, for launching missiles such as the Shahab-3, which is capable of reaching Israel.
When is the sale of missile technology by a government company not official government policy?
The Obama administration is attempting to ignore the fact that Russian government-owned defense contractors are supplying Iran with missile technology to enable the development of long-range ballistic missiles.
Russian missile manufacturers provided goods to Iran’s ballistic missile program, but U.S. intelligence agencies claim the proliferation is not part of an official Moscow policy of backing Tehran weapons programs.
The unclassified assessment by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was sent in April to Congress following a request from Capitol Hill to explain the current state of Moscow-Tehran missile trade. The new intelligence on the missile trade could trigger sanctions under the Iran, North Korea, and Syria sanctions law or limit U.S. government interaction with Moscow.
“We assess that individual entities have provided assistance to Iran’s ballistic missile programs,” the DNI statement by legislative director Kathleen Turner said.
The new assessment differs from an earlier intelligence statement supplied to Congress that was more categorical on the transfers and did not contain legalistic references included in an apparent effort to avoid linking the Russian government to recent missile-related transfers.
The assessment could affect a requested presidential waiver sought by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration that is needed prior to the next U.S. payment to Russia for the International Space Station.
A State Department official said the Russia-Iran missile trade has not been raised in recent meetings between U.S. and Russian officials.
Current law requires the president to certify that it is Russia’s policy to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear and missile technology and systems.
“NASA wants another waiver to allow us to make payments to Moscow for the International Space Station, but the president cannot certify that Russia has a policy to prevent their own assistance to Iran’s missiles, to say nothing of the nuclear program, and what’s going on in Syria,” said a congressional aide close to the issue.
The waiver is required under the nonproliferation law before any payments can be made.
Additionally, the administration is pressing Congress to pass permanent normal trade relations legislation for Russia, raising further questions that the administration is ignoring Russian arms proliferation to Tehran.
“What message will all this send to Putin,” the aide said. “I think we know: The Obama administration reset cancer is now metastatic to all U.S. policy.”
The statement concludes that, while it is not official Russian policy to assist Iran’s missile programs, Moscow is incapable of implementing a policy to halt such exports or prevent state-owned arms manufacturers from assisting Iran, the aide said.
The assessment appears to be in line with President Obama’s conciliatory policies toward Russia. The president was overheard during a conversation with then-Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in March as telling the Russians not to pressure him during the current election campaign. Obama promised “more flexibility” in stalled talks on missile defenses after his presumed reelection, according to the conversation that was recorded by television cameras.
Isn't the Obama administration's attitude of forgiveness toward American enemies amazing? Too bad he doesn't cut the same slack to American allies.
As to his director of national 'intelligence,' James Clapper, you might recall that Clapper was the guy who told Congress that the Muslim Brotherhood is a 'secular' organization.
So on the Russian front, if God forbid Obama is reelected, by 2016 we will have no US missile defense, an Iranian ICBM with Russian technology, and every state in the Middle East other than Israel (assuming it still exists) gone Islamist.
According to a Google search, that image first appeared on the Internet on July 9, 2008 on a Word Press site called "What the Crap?" That time stamp would've been just after Iran was originally busted for Photoshopping an image of its missile test. During that time, a number of clever news watchers produced a series of prank versions of the Iran missile launch like this one and this one, which transformed the embarrassing episode into a funny Internet meme. Humorously, it appears Iran is now using images from the meme it created to depict its own missile program. Even more humorously, it appears the Photoshopped image MNA picked includes a photo of loathed Star Wars prequel character Jar Jar Binks. Take a closer look:
North Korean satellite launch a cover for Iranian long-range missile test
For those who don't follow me on Twitter, you're missing out, because I had to be away for a few hours (longer than expected) and I tweeted about this earlier.
North Korea has moved a long-range rocket to a launching site, apparently determined to press ahead with its plan to launch a satellite in defiance of international condemnation, the South Korean military said Sunday, The New York Times reported. The Times article said that the North Koreans moved the main body of the Unha-3 rocket to the newly built launching station in Dongchang-ri, a village in northwest North Korea.
The satellite launch is expected to take place between April 12 and 16. North Korea has claimed that the launch is for “peaceful purposes only,” and to celebrate the April 15 centenary of the birth of its founder, Kim Il Sung. Kim’s grandson, Kim Jong Un, has led the nation of 24 million since his father, Kim Jong Il, died in December. North Korea has also claimed that the launch will not affect its neighbors and that it wasn’t violating an agreement with the West under which North Korea has agreed to suspend its nuclear program in exchange for food shipments. Within the agreement, North Korea has agreed to halt the testing of ballistic missiles and to stop enriching uranium at its nuclear facility in Yongbyon.
Pyongyan's neighbor and nemesis, Seoul, warned Monday that it might shoot down parts of the North Korean rocket if they violate South Korean territory, as worries about what Washington calls a long-range missile test overshadowed an international nuclear security summit, AP reported on Monday.
Western security officials now believe that sending the satellite into space is only a pretext for the primary goal of the launch, and that the actual purpose is to test a long-range ballistic missile belonging to another country. Suspicions, as stated, have fallen on Iran.
...
Western defense officials believe that the upcoming launch is a continuation of Iran and North Korea’s cooperation. According to this assessment, North Korea’s new president, Kim Jong Un, is seeking to demonstrate to his people that he is no less hawkish or determined than his father, but wouldn’t risk suspending the nuclear-freeze-for-food agreement with the West unless a significant economic interest convinced him otherwise.
According to the assessment, the launch is part of an existing comprehensive agreement that North Korea has obligated itself to, and that its concern about losing income from the deal with Iran has forced it to announce the satellite launch, despite unease over open confrontation with the West.
I guess those sanctions must be having a really serious impact on Iran's ability to buy the things it wants....
As you might recall, I reported earlier this month that North Korea carried out a nuclear test for Iran in 2010. They don't seem to fear President Obama's finger shaking at them very much, do they? And an Iranian ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile - that's what 'long-range' means) is something that ought to concern the United States very much.
Iran is encouraging the Islamic Jihad terrorist group in Gaza to continue firing rockets against Israel, IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai said on Sunday.
According to Mordechai, since the beginning of the violence on Friday, 150 rockets have been fired by Palestinian terror groups, although 40 landed inside Gaza and another 37 were intercepted by the Iron Dome counter-rocket defense system. "Iran finances Islamic Jihad and supports it with weaponry," Mordechai told reporters. "In these days, the Iranians are supporting them and actively encouraging them to continue."
Mordechai said that while Hamas was not actively firing rockets into Israel, it is viewed as the ruling authority in Gaza and is therefore held responsible by Israel for terrorist attacks that originate inside the territory.
And this is from the second link.
A spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that one site hit was being used to launch Iranian-built Fajr-5 missiles.
"The IAF (Israel Air Force) destroyed launching pits of Fajr long range rockets that can hit Tel Aviv," Ofir Gendelman wrote in a posting on Twitter. "This is the result of meticulous intelligence work."
Just imagine how effective the IDF would be if Iran had nuclear weapons. Why is it that no one outside of Israel seems to understand the extent to which an Iranian nuclear weapon would be a game changer?
Iran was working on developing a missile with 10,000 km range that would put America in reach of a potential Iranian attack, Strategic Affairs Minister and Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon said Thursday.
According to Ya'alon, the missile was based on a solid fuel propellant and would have been able to significantly increase Iran's offensive capabilities. Last month, a mysterious explosion rocked an Iranian missile base near Tehran where Iran was working on developing this long range missile.
Iran test-fired a new medium-range missile, designed to evade radars, on Sunday during the last days of its naval drill in the Gulf, the official IRNA news agency quoted a military official as saying.
The 10-day naval exercise coincided with increased tension in Iran's nuclear row with Western powers. Iranian state television reported Sunday that it successfully produced and tested fuel rods for its nuclear power plants.
"The mid-range surface to air missile which is equipped with the latest sophisticated anti-radar technologies has been successfully test-fired," Deputy Navy Commander Mahmoud Mousavi told IRNA.
And this is from the second link.
"We have test fired a long-range shore-to-sea missile called Qader (capable), which managed to successfully destroy predetermined targets in the Gulf," deputy Navy Commander Mahmoud Mousavi told the official news agency IRNA. Later Monday, Mousavi added that "our Nour surface-to-surface long range missile was also successfully launched."
Mousavi said observers from the country's closest Arab ally, Syria, would attend the last day of its 10-day naval exercise.
You all keep telling yourselves that Iran has no intention of using those missiles.
The explosion three weeks ago at a missile testing site outside of Tehran is being seen as a major setback for Iran's nuclear weapons program, according to a report in the New York Times (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).
In interviews, current and former officials said surveillance photos showed that the Iranian base was a central testing center for advanced solid-fuel missiles, an assessment backed by outside experts who have examined satellite photos showing that the base was almost completely leveled in the blast. Such missiles can be launched almost instantly, making them useful to Iran as a potential deterrent against pre-emptive attacks by Israel or the United States, and they are also better suited than older liquid-fuel designs for carrying warheads long distances.
It is still unclear what caused the explosion, with American officials saying they believe it was probably an accident, perhaps because of Iran’s inexperience with a volatile, dangerous technology. Iran declared it an accident, but subsequent discussions of the episode in the Iranian news media have referred to the chief of Iran’s missile program as one of the “martyrs” killed in the huge explosion. Some Iranian officials have talked of sabotage, but it is unclear whether that is based on evidence or surmise after several years in which Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated on Tehran’s streets, and a highly sophisticated computer worm has attacked its main uranium production facility.
Both American and Israeli officials, in discussing the explosion in recent days, showed little curiosity about its cause. “Anything that buys us time and delays the day when the Iranians might be able to mount a nuclear weapon on an accurate missile is a small victory,” one Western intelligence official who has been deeply involved in countering the Iranian nuclear program said this weekend. “At this point, we’ll take whatever we can get, however it happens.”
I'm all in favor of feigning disinterest in the cause of the explosion. But 'we'll take it however we can get it' doesn't sound like much of a plan to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. And that precisely is the problem: There is no plan.
And while the US is denying that Iran shot down a sophisticated US drone over the weekend, as Iranian media reported on Sunday (Hat Tip: Memeorandum), this doesn't sound too good either.
In a statement on Sunday, the American-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said that the drone “to which the Iranians are referring may be a U.S. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western Afghanistan late last week.” It added that operators of the remotely controlled drone aircraft lost control of it “and had been working to determine its status.” The statement did not say what kind of drone was lost, or what might have caused the loss.
The statement would seem to suggest that the craft wrongly flew across the border into Iran. If a drone was used for intelligence gathering in Iran, it presumably would not belong to the military — since there are no open hostilities with Iran — but rather to the C.I.A. or another intelligence agency, acting under a presidential finding about the Iranian nuclear program.
Speaking to FNA, Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari stated that Qader missile with a range of 200km is "one of the strongest and most precise naval missiles" of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The commander added that a large number of such missiles have already been delivered to the Iranian naval combat units.
Sayyari stated that the Iranian Navy is now using Qader as a coast-to-sea and surface-to-surface missile, and noted that the cruise missile can be mounted onto different types of choppers as well.
Late in September, the Iranian Defense Ministry supplied large numbers of Qader missiles to the naval forces of the Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) to boost Iran's naval power.
The Iranian defense minister said at the time that Qader is an anti-ship cruise missile with a range of 200km and enjoys a short launch time and is able to hit all naval vessels, including frigates and warships, as well as onshore enemy targets.
Also on November 21, the Iranian Defense Ministry supplied a large number of highly advanced coast-to-sea cruise missiles to the Army's naval forces.
Iran developing low-flying cruise missile that can carry non-conventional weapons
At a conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Arieh Herzog, director of the Defense Ministry's Homa Missile Defense Agency, announced that Iran is developing a low-flying cruise missile (not necessarily connected to the picture), which can carry non-conventional weapons.
"The Iranians are developing a capability that within several years, they will have cruise missiles that can fly at low altitudes and carry non-conventional warheads," Herzog said.
Herzog said that Israel's missile defense capabilities were drawn from the Iranian's development of missiles.
Israel currently has three Iron Dome counter rocket defense batteries deployed throughout the country in additional to two Arrow batteries to defend against long-range ballistic missiles.
In 2012, the Air Force plans to begin deploying the David's Sling to protect against medium-range missiles. The David's Sling is being developed to also intercept cruise missiles.
Herzog also referred to the development of the Arrow-3 missile defense system which will serve as the upper tier of Israel's multi-layered missile defense program. The system is expected to become operational by 2015.
"The system is in an advanced development stage and due to its capabilities we will have a number of interception possibilities out of the atmosphere," Herzog said.
Image of Iranian missile base where explosion took place two weeks ago
Here's a satellite photo of that missile base outside of Tehran where the explosion took place on November 12, 2011. It looks like there's an awful lot of damage.
Military Intelligence: Iran blast set back missile program
Israel's Military Intelligence says that the explosion two weeks ago at a missile base outside Tehran has set back Iran's ability to produce missiles at that base, but that Iran has other locations at which it is producing missiles.
"The blast in the site where surface-to-surface missiles were developed can delay or bring to a complete halt the production of the missiles at that site," said head of the Directorate of Military Intelligence Research Section Department Brigadier General Itai baron at a briefing in the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
"However," Baron cautioned, "It must be emphasized that Iran has other development sites other than the one that was destroyed."
The head of the research department also commented on the November 8 report issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which determined that Iran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program, saying the report "won't change Iran's course of action.
"The nuclear program will continue to progress despite the mounting pressures in Iran, and the worsening economic situation that might undermine the stability of the regime," Baron noted.
I guess we need a few more explosions in Iran. Heh.
Well, what a shock. The explosions last week at an Iranian military base were caused by 'missile testing' according to the brother of Gen. Hasan Tehrani Mogaddam, the head of Iran's missile program who was killed in the blast.
Mohammad Tehrani Moghaddam was quoted by the government-run "Iran" newspaper as saying that his brother was killed when the weapon exploded during testing. Iran said it has ruled out sabotage.
Moghaddam was one of the "cornerstones" of the artillery and missile units at the IRGC during the Iran-Iraq war.
The officer reportedly served as a researcher at a Tehran university and headed the "Jihad Self-Reliance" unit, mostly tasked with developing arms and missiles.
Senior Guards member Mustafa Izadi published an article saying Moghaddam's research helped the terror groups fight Israel.
Mohammad Tehrani Moghaddam later denied ever saying that his brother died wile testing a ballstic missile, telling the semi-official Fars news agency that "We didn't know what my brother was doing" while he died. He added that he asked the offending newspaper to print a retraction, stressing that "I have never said these things. I have no connection to the state's missile program."
Kein Yovdu Kol Oyvecha Hashem (So may all your enemies be lost O God).
Iran tested long-range (2000km) missiles on Monday, and for the first time exposed the fact that it has underground silos in which some of its missiles are based.
Iran unveiled underground ballistic missile silos for the first time on Monday in a warning to the world of its ability to protect its missiles and secretly store them in hidden locations throughout the country.
State TV broadcast footage of several military officers touring an underground silo that was holding a Shahab 3 ballistic missile. The Shahab 3 has a range of some 2,000 kilometers, putting Israel within its reach but is powered by liquid fuel which means that it needs to be fueled close to launch.
The unveiling of underground missile silos was confirmation of Israeli and American warnings in recent years that Iran was dispersing its missiles in silos, likely scattered throughout the country. In the footage, a missile is shown being launched from inside one of the silos which has large metal doors that open on the surface with the press of a button.
Tal Inbar, head of the Space Research Center at the Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, said that the decision to release the video was likely an Iranian attempt to boost its deterrence vis-à-vis Israel and the West.
“The silos look fairly sophisticated and by unveiling them, the Iranians are trying to show the world that their missiles are protected even if the country is attacked,” Inbar said. He added that other countries with missile silos used them strictly for missiles equipped with nuclear warheads and not for conventional ballistic missiles.
The missiles silos could also be used to launch Iran’s long-range solid-fuel missile called Sajjil, which is expected to be test fired by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) during the 10 days of war games that began on Monday under the name of “Great Prophet 6.”
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
