Iran's successful missile test puts Israel within range

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Well done Iran.


Iran's successful missile test puts Israel within range

By Amir Oren

United States is `gravely concerned' by Shihab-3 ground-to-ground rocket

Iran has successfully tested a Shihab-3 missile,
which has a range that can reach Israel. The
launch last week was the most successful so far of
the seven or eight tests of the missile over the
last five years, and has increased worries in
Washington - which spotted the test with its
tracking mechanisms - and in Israel.

If the assessment proves to be
true that the missile, which
was launched from east to west,
had an effective range beyond
the 1,300-kilometer red line,
meaning the range from western
Iran to Israel, the Iranians
could position the launching
pads for the rocket deeper
inside their country.


The Iranian threat will be one of the subjects
under discussion when Chief of Staff Moshe
Ya'alon visits the Pentagon and U.S. armed
forces bases next week. Ya'alon's itinerary is
supposed to include the Florida headquarters of
two key commands: Centcom and Special
Operations at MacDill air force base.

More data is now being collected and collated in
the West about the missile test and about the
progress being made in the Iranian missile
program, which is based on North Korean
missiles. In previous tests, when the rocket
was powered by a North Korean engine, the tests
were successful, but when the engines were
Iranian-made, even with North Korean know-how,
they tended to fail - despite statements by
Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shakhmani in 2002
that Iran can "develop everything" and does not
need help from foreign sources like China or
Russia.

The report of the Shihab-3 test is an incentive
for Israel equipping itself with more Arrow
missiles made by the Israel Aircrafts
Industries and soon to go into a joint
production process with Boeing.

Israel is also concerned about the growing ties
between Iran and Libya. Indeed, the Libyan
threat is now the reason for a third Arrow
battery even though the Iraqi threat is gone.
One response to the Libyan threat would be an
Arrow battery mounted on a naval vessel.

Western experts said that the 16-meter
single-stage Shihab-3, which can carry up to a
ton of explosives in its payload, is not very
accurate, with the probability of hitting
within three kilometers of any target it is
launched at. But it is possible that has been
improved over the past year. In any case, the
missile range already includes Israel, Turkey,
the Indian subcontinent and the American forces
in the Gulf. Iran has plans for two
longer-range missiles: a Shihab-4, with a
2,000-kilometer range and a Shihab-5, with a
5,500-kilometer range.

The last Shihab missile test resulted in a Bush
administration statement expressing "serious
concerns" about the Iranian missile project,
which is a "threat to the region and U.S.
interests."

The next commander of Centcom, Gen. John
Abizaid, who replaces Tommy Franks on Monday,
testified last week to a Senate committee that
"Iran has the largest ballistic missile
inventory in the Central Command region to
include long-range weapons of mass destruction
and delivery systems capable of reaching
deployed U.S. forces in the theater." And he
warned, "Iran's long-term ability to develop
nuclear weapons remains a source of serious
concern."

He told the committee that "Iran casts a shadow
on security and stability in the Gulf region.
Iran's military is second only to the United
States. U.S. allies in the Gulf acknowledge
Iran's increasingly proactive efforts to soften
its image and appear less hegemonic; however,
Iran's military poses a potential threat to
neighboring countries."
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/p...2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
 
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