Smoking Gun: Iran Already Nuclear Armed
by Sean Osborne, Senior Analyst, Military Affairs Expert
19 March 2005: A recent article featured on the Internet news site Debka stated "Iran currently has at least 12 Kh-55 strategic cruise missiles with 3,000km range capable of carrying 200 kiloton nuclear warheads." The article further stated: "Ukrainian prosecutor-General Piskun admitted in Kiev that this "missile technology" from former Soviet nuclear arsenal had "leaked" to Iran in 2001 - albeit without nuclear warheads. He could not explain how sales occurred. Six missiles also reached China."
[התמונה הבאה מגיעה מקישור שלא מתחיל ב https ולכן לא הוטמעה בדף כדי לשמור על https תקין:
http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/kh55.jpg]
Based on my research, this is only partially correct. The real story is that Iran purchased a total of six-(6) Kh-55 Granat nuclear-armed cruise missiles from an ethnic Iranian-Afghan arms merchant identified as
Sarfraz Haider.
Conveniently, Sarfraz Haider was murdered in Cyprus last year, allegedly by Iranian-paid agents because he knew the truth about the full capability of the stolen Kh-55 cruise missiles. An autopsy revealed that his neck had been broken and his aorta split.
Details of the demise of arms dealer Sarfraz Haider are documented in
story written by Lincoln Wright of the Australian
Herald-Sun dated 20 February 2005. Sarfraz Haider lived Australia for some time.
Excerpted from the article:
Based on documents he had seen in Cyprus, Dr Haider said he had "little doubt" the missiles were tipped with warheads. "What's the use of the missiles without them," Dr Haider said.
The missiles were sold through several companies, including one Cyprus-based company owned by Mr Haider, S.H. Heritage Holding Ltd, and another Iranian firm, Satak Co Ltd.
The proverbial cat was let out of the bag by Hryhoriy Omelchenko, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament and who also just happens to be a reserve colonel in the Ukrainian State Secret Services bureau (SBU). He wrote an official letter to newly elected Ukrainian President Yushchenko asking him to pursue a full investigation of the illegal sale of six Kh-55 missiles to Iran, and six Kh-55 missiles to China.
Relevant facts on this matter are contained in an "http://www.missilethreat.com/news/former_soviet_republics.html" article
on the internet web site MISSILETHREAT.com, a project of the Claremont Institute, citing an article written by Roman Kupchinsky, an organized crime and terrorism analyst for RFE/RL Online and the editor of "RFE/RL Organized Crime and Terrorism Watch:
"Ukrainian lawmaker Hryhoriy Omelchenko recently wrote a letter to newly elected President Viktor Yushchenko claiming that the government of Yushchenko's predecessor, Leonid Kuchma, in collaboration with members of the military and the state arms company UkrSpetzExport sold some 20 air-launched Kh-55 and Kh-55M cruise missiles, which had the capability to carry nuclear weapons. Of these, six were sent to Iran and six to China, all between 1999 and 2001. The transfers, if true, would violate various non-proliferation agreements. Kuchma's government is also believed to have sold advanced radar systems to Iraq in 2002, despite UN sanctions to the contrary. An American embassy spokesman in Kiev was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the United States was "aware of the reports" of such sales and took them "very seriously."
The Kh-55 cruise missile has a range of 3,000 kilometers, is capable of carrying a 200-kiloton nuclear warhead, and was developed for use on Russian Tupolev long-range bombers. In June 2004, Russia tested an air-launched Kh-55 which may well have been the Kh-55.
Based on my extensive research into this matter, it would appear that the Iranians could strike any target within a radius approximately equal to the distance between Tehran and Athens, Greece. This clearly puts all US CENTCOM and Israeli fixed-position, strategic military targets within the range of these weapons. Today.
Addendum - excerpted from Jane's Intelligence Digest: "There is no doubt that the sale of the missiles to Iran and China could only have taken place with the knowledge and cooperation of senior Ukrainian officials... there is ... mounting evidence to suggest that the sale of missiles to Iran was undertaken with the assistance of the Russian security services."
http://www.homelandsecurityus.com
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20-03-2005, 13:30
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