NORTH KOREA IS THE MAIN THREAT, NOT IRAN, AND NORTH KOREA WILL CONTINUE
TO SELL ITS MISSLES, ITS BIGGEST EXPORT. WAIT TILL NICARAGUA FALLS
UNDER CHAVEZ'S ORBIT. IT WILL BE A TRANSSHIPMENT POINT FOR HIS MISSILES
FROM NK,
Iran has missiles that put Europe in range: report
Reuters
Thursday, April 27, 2006; 4:14 AM
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Iran has received a first shipment of missiles
from North Korea that are capable of reaching Europe, Israel's military
intelligence chief was quoted on Thursday as saying.
Known in the West as BM-25s, the Russian-designed missiles have a range
of around 1,500 miles, giving them a longer reach than the Iranian-made
Shihab-4 missiles which are capable of hitting Israel.
The intelligence chief, Major-General Amos Yadlin, was quoted by
Israel's Haaretz newspaper as saying in a lecture on Wednesday that
some BM-25s had arrived in Iran.
The BM-25 was originally manufactured in the Soviet Union, where it was
known as the SSN6, a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead,
Haaretz reported.
After the Russians decommissioned the SSN6, the missiles were sold to
North Korea, which adapted them to carry a heavier payload, the
newspaper's military affairs correspondent said.
In February, a German diplomat, citing his country's intelligence data,
confirmed a German newspaper report that said Iran had purchased 18
disassembled BM-25s from North Korea.
Israel has been urging the international community to pressure Iran to
halt its nuclear programme as well as its efforts to obtain long-range
missiles.
Iran, the world's fourth largest producer of crude oil, says its
nuclear programme is a peaceful project to provide electricity.
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