Iran Test Fires Missiles Amidst Nuclear Tension

The missiles, fired at targets around the country Sunday, included the Fateh-110, a short-range ground-to-ground missile, and Tondar-69, a short-range naval missile, the station said. Iran plans to test the long-range Shahab missile on Monday.


The tests, which are expected to go on for the next 10 to 11 days, are codenamed "Payghambar-e Azam 4" or "The Great Messenger 4," Press TV said.


Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had said it would stage missile exercises to promote the armed forces' defense capabilities.

The tests come after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disclosure Friday that Iran was building a second uranium enrichment facility.
The United States and Israel believe that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear energy program. Iran has denied the allegation.

In May, Iran said it tested a surface-to-surface missile that is capable of reaching parts of Europe.

At the time, a White House official said the test was noteworthy.
"Of course, this is just a test, and obviously there is much work to be done before it can be built and deployed. But I see it as a significant step forward in terms of Iran's capacity to deliver weapons," said Gary Samore, special assistant to the president on nonproliferation.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/09/27/iran.missile.test/index.html

Iran iachwe ifanye mambo yake kivyake.

Nchi za NAM (Non -Aligned Movement) ambazo ziko 120 ziliandika barua ya pamoja July mwaka 2008 kuonesha kuunga mkono juhudi za Iran kujitengenezea silaha zake za nyuklia. Kwa hio mpaka sasa Iran inasema inayo support kubwa.

Halafu kuna Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), ambayo Iran ni mwanachama na mara zote wamekuwa wakifuata utaratibu chini ya IAEA na tatizo lipo kwamba NPT ilipoanzishwa mwaka 1968 zile nchi za US, UK, Russia na China ndizo zinaweza kwa ruhusa yao kuongeza makali ya Uranium na kutengeza mabomu ya nyuklia.

Iran mpaka leo inasisitiza NPT kwamba haitatengeneza silaha hizo na ni kwa ajili tu ya kuzalisha umeme.

Pia najiuliza kwanini nchi ambazo hazipo katika NPT kama India, Pakistan, Israel na sasa North Korea je zinasumbuliwa kiasi hiki?

Tusubiri mkutano tarehe 1 October kati ya Iran na wale wanaojiita P5 +1, yaani wanachama watano wa kudumu wa baraza la usalama la UN- US, Russia, China, Britain na France - na wa kualikwa, Germany.

yaani hawa jamaa ni sturbon sijawai kuona.

TEHRAN - Iran said it successfully test-fired short-range missiles during military drills Sunday by the elite Revolutionary Guard, a show of force days after the U.S. warned Tehran over a newly revealed underground nuclear facility it was secretly constructing.

Gen. Hossein Salami, head of the Revolutionary Guard Air Force, said Iran also tested a multiple missile launcher for the first time. The official English-language Press TV showed pictures of at least two missiles being fired simultaneously and said they were from Sunday's drill in a central Iran desert. In the clip, men could be heard shouting "Allahu Akbar" as the missiles were launched.

"We are going to respond to any military action in a crushing manner and it doesn't make any difference which country or regime has launched the aggression," state media quoted Salami as saying. He said the missiles successfully hit their targets.

The powerful Revolutionary Guard defends Iran's clerical rulers. It has its own ground, naval and air units and its air force controls the country's missile program.

The tests came two days after the U.S. and its allies disclosed that Iran had been secretly developing a previously unknown underground uranium enrichment facility and warned the country it must open the nuclear site to international inspection or face harsher international sanctions. The drill was planned in advance of that disclosure.

The newly revealed nuclear site in the arid mountains near the holy city of Qom is believed to be inside a heavily guarded, underground facility belonging to the Revolutionary Guard, according to a document sent by President Barack Obama's administration to lawmakers.

After the strong condemnations from the U.S. and its allies, Iran said Saturday it will allow U.N. nuclear inspectors to examine the site.Nuclear experts said the details that have emerged about the site and the fact it was being developed secretly are strong indications that Iran's nuclear program is not only for peaceful purposes, as the country has long maintained.

By U.S. estimates, Iran is one to five years away from having a nuclear weapons capability, although U.S. intelligence also believes that Iranian leaders have not yet made the decision to build a weapon.

Iran also is developing a long-range ballistic missile that could carry a nuclear warhead, but the administration said last week that it believes that effort has been slowed. That assessment paved the way for Obama's decision to shelve the Bush administration's plan for a missile shield in Europe, which was aimed at defending against Iranian ballistic missiles.
Salami said Iran would test medium-range Shahab-1 and Shahab-2 missiles on Sunday night and long-range Shahab-3 missiles on Monday, during drills set to last several days.

Salami said Fateh, Tondar and Zelzal missiles were test fired on Sunday, but did not give specifics on range or other details. All are short-range, surface-to-surface missiles.He told reporters Iran had reduced the missiles and their ranges and enhanced their speed and precision so they could be used in quick, short-range engagements. He also said they are now able to be launched from positions that are not as easy to hit.

He said the Revolutionary Guards' current missile tests and military drills are indications of Iran's resolve to defend its national values and part of a strategy of deterrence and containment of missile threats.Salami claimed Iran has started "running into difficulties storing so many missiles" with its recent progress on its missile program.

Iran has had the solid-fuel Fateh missile, with a range of 120 miles (193 kilometers), for several years. Fateh means conqueror in Farsi and Arabic. It also has the solid-fueled, Chinese-made CSS 8, also called the Tondar 69, according to the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a private group that seeks to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The Tondar, which means thunder, has a range of about 93 miles (150 kilometers.)
State media said the Revolutionary Guard tested a multiple launcher for the first time, designed for the Zelzal missile. Tehran has previously tested the Zelzal – versions of which have ranges of 130-185 miles (210-300 kilometers) – but only single launch.

In July 2006, Israeli military officials said their jets had destroyed a missile in Lebanon named Zelzal, which they said Hezbollah had received from Iran and could reach Tel Aviv. Zelzal means earthquake.

Iran's last known missile tests were in May when it fired its longest-range solid-fuel missile, Sajjil-2. Tehran said the two-stage surface-to-surface missile has a range of about 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) – capable of striking Israel, U.S. Mideast bases and Europe.

The revelation of Iran's secret site has given greater urgency to a key meeting on Thursday in Geneva between Iran and six major powers trying to stop its suspected nuclear weapons program.The U.S. and its partners plan to tell Tehran at the meeting that it must provide "unfettered access" for the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, within weeks.

The facility is Iran's second uranium-enrichment site working to produce the fuel that could eventually be used in a nuclear weapon.A close aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday the site will be operational soon and would pose a threat to those who oppose Iran.

"This new facility, God willing, will become operational soon and will blind the eyes of the enemies," Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani told the semi-official Fars news agency.

Evidence of the clandestine facility was presented Friday by Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh. On Saturday, Obama offered Iran "a serious, meaningful dialogue" over its disputed nuclear program, while warning Tehran of grave consequences from a united global front.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Saturday the revelation was firm proof Iran was seeking nuclear weapons.

Israel considers Iran a strategic threat with its nuclear program, missile development and repeated calls by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for Israel's destruction. It has not ruled out a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear sites.

In 1981, Israeli warplanes bombed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reaction and in 2007, Israel bombed a site in Syria that the U.S. said was a nearly finished nuclear reactor built with North Korean help that was configured to produce plutonium – one of the substances used in nuclear warheads.

Israel's Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment on the missile tests.
Iranian Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi, who heads the country's nuclear program, said Saturday that U.N. nuclear inspectors could visit the nuclear site. On Sunday, he told Press TV Iran and the IAEA would work out the timing of the inspection.

The small-scale site is meant to house no more than 3,000 centrifuges – much less than the 8,000 machines at Natanz, Iran's known industrial-scale enrichment facility, but they could still potentially help create bomb-making material.

Experts have estimated that Iran's current number of centrifuges could enrich enough uranium for a bomb in as little as a year. Washington has been pushing for heavier sanctions if Iran does not agree to end enrichment.

Jamhuri ya Kiislamu ya Iran leo imefanya majaribio ya makombora ya masafa marefu yaitwayo Shahab-3 na mengine yaitwayo Sajjil, ambayo yana uwezo wa kusafiri hadi kilometa 2,000 (maili 1,240 ).

Jeshi maalum la Iran liitwalo The Revolutionary Guards limefanya majaribio hayo ambayo ni sehemu ya mazoezi ya kivita yaitwayo "Sacred Defence Week".

Makombora hayo yana uwezo wa kufika katika nchi ya Israel na sehemu yote ya ghuba ya uajemi ambako kuna vituo na vikosi vya kijeshi vya Marekani katika nchi ya Qatar. Pia nchi za Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia na Kuwait, sehemu za Ulaya hasa Uturuki, zinakuwapo kwenye mlengo.

Kitendo hiki cha Iran kujaribu silaha hizi kinashabihiana na kitendo kilichofanywa na Jamhuri ya watu wa Korea Kaskazini mwezi June mwaka huu ambapo nao walijaribu makombora ya masafa marefu na kusababisha kuwekewa vikwazo vya kiuchumi na Umoja wa Mataifa.

Baadae Pyongyang wakasema kwamba wamefikia hatua ya mwisho ya kurutubisha kemikali ya Uranium na walikuwa wakikoleza makali ya plutonium.

Korea ya Kaskanzini inaaminika kuwa na plutonimu ya kutosha ambayo ni mabomu sita ya atom.

Wiki ijayo waziri mkuu wa China Wen Jiabao atakwenda North Korea kukumbusha kuwepo kwa mazungumzo ya kuhusu mabomu ya nyuklia ambapo nchi sita ikiwemo US, Russia, South Korea na Japan zitashiriki.

Mwanzoni mwa mwaka huu North Korea ilijitoa katika mazungumzo hayo baada ya kulaumiwa kwa kitendo chake cha kujaribu makombora ya masafa marefu.

Alhamisi ijayo Iran itafanya mazungumzo na nchi wanachama wa kudumu wa baraza la usalama la UN liitwalo 5+1 US, France, Britain, Russia, China na Germany kuhusu malengo ya silaha zake hizi.

Yaani ni hekaheka tupu!

The world should not "succumb to emotions" in dealing with Iran, a Russian foreign ministry source told Interfax news agency Monday, after Tehran tested missiles amid tensions with the West.

"Now is not the time to succumb to emotions, it is necessary to calm down and above all to start up an effective negotiation process," the source was quoted as saying by Interfax.

Earlier on Monday, Iran tested missiles capable of hitting Israel and parts of Europe, as the hardline Revolutionary Guards carried out war games amid increasing tensions with the West.

The missile tests came after last week's revelation that Iran had built a previously undisclosed uranium enrichment plant, which was condemned by countries around the world.

The United States and its allies fear that Iran is seeking to develop an atomic weapon, but Tehran denies the charge and says its nuclear programme is purely civilian in nature.

Russia has traditionally resisted US calls for tougher sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, but it joined in the global chorus of criticism last week over the revelation of the secret nuclear facility.

MaxShimba said:

Mwisho wa huyu bwana unakaribia,

Click to expand...

In your dreams maybe,i just hope all countries are put to the same scrutiny as Iran as Obama promised.