IRANIAN MISSILES AIMED AT ISRAEL
LONDON, 4 Oct. (IPS) Ahmad Vahid, the head of the Iranian missile development project said Thursday that Teheran's long-range rockets were meant to hit Israel in the event of an Israeli strike on Iran and added that Iran would also soon launch a spy satellite.
Speaking to the London-based, Saudi-owned Arabic daily "Al-Hayat",
Mr. Vahid, who also is the head of Iran's space development program, said Iran
had decided to develop the "Shahab" rocket, which has a range
of 1,300 kilometres, "in response to Israel's long-range
"Jericho" missile".
The missile was developed to have a range of 1,500 kilometres, he said, because "our primary aim in developing [the missile] is to hit Israeli targets in the event that Israel fires missiles at Iran."
"Iran also plans in the near future to carry out further attempts to launch a satellite, which would be used for both civilian and spy purposes and would be launched using the "Shahab 3" rocket", Mr. Vahid added, not saying when Iran would start the test firing.
The launch, he conveyed, would be performed using local knowledge and expertise. He noted that Iran urgently needs the satellite, but cannot get the technology required from anywhere else, despite the fact that many states are in possession of the required information.
Vahid said that Iran's test last May of the Shahab 3 "proved Iran's ability to develop more accurate ballistic missiles, with a range of over 1,300 kilometres".
He denied, however, that Iran has plans to develop missiles that could reach past Israel. "There is a tendentious campaign against us by the Western media, which claims that we are trying to launch missiles with a range of 12,000 kilometres, in order to hit the United States. This is not true; American territory is not part of our strategic defence targets".
Vahid also declared that Iran has no intention of producing nuclear warheads and the plans it has to built nuclear power plant have civilian purposes only.
"Everyone knows that Israel has 200 nuclear warheads that it could mount on the Jericho missiles", he said. "But Iranian missiles are equipped with conventional warheads. We have no nuclear weapons and we are not trying to obtain them. If there is a strike against us, however, we will respond with all of our capabilities. The Israelis may have many powerful weapons, but they know that they live in a glass house, which cannot stand up to the stones of the children of the intifada".
Both Washington and Tel Aviv have expressed deep concern over the ongoing work, undertaken by Russia at Iran's atomic energy plant in the Persian Gulf city of Bushehr.
Despite the denials, Western intelligence sources are convinced that Iran is trying to attain atomic weapons and that the reactor plant could be part of this program, although experts are unsure about the extent of progress. ENDS IRAN MISSILES 41002