Iran test-fires cruise missile in navy war drills

TEHRAN: Iran on Monday successfully tested a Ghader ground-to-ship cruise missile on the last day of navy war games near the Strait of Hormuz, the official news agency IRNA quoted a navy spokesman as saying.

“This missile built by Iranian experts successfully hit its target and destroyed it,” Commodore Mahmoud Mousavi was quoted as saying.

He said it was “the first time” a Ghader missile had been tested.

The Ghader missile, also known as the Qader, is said to have a range of 200 kilometres (120 miles), which is generally considered medium-range or even short-range for a cruise missile, even though IRNA described it as “long-range.”

Mousavi earlier told the ISNA news agency that “the Ghader is an ultra-modern missile with an integrated, ultra-precise radar whose range and intelligent anti-detection system have been improved over previous generations.”

Mousavi said the navy was to test two other types of missiles later Monday, a surface-to-surface Nour missile also with a range of 200 kilometres, and a Nasr anti-ship missile with a shorter range.

The Ghader is said to be entirely built by Iran.

The Nour and Nasr missiles are based on Chinese designs.

The Nour, also known as the Noor, is based on China’s C-802 missile. Mousavi said the Nour missile to be fired “has been improved with its anti-radar and targeting system,” according to ISNA.

An Iranian Nour missile was reportedly used by the Iran-linked Hezbollah militia in Lebanon to disable an Israeli warship during a 2006 conflict.

The Nasr anti-ship missile is based on China’s C-704 missile and has a range of 35 kilometres (22 miles). Iran has them mounted aboard patrol boats.

Mousavi was quoted as saying that Syrian military observers would watch the tests.

Iran’s navy started its 10 days of war games near the Strait of Hormuz on December 24.

They are due to finish Monday after the missile tests and an exercise practising “a new tactical formation” to be used to close the strait if so ordered, Mousavi was quoted as saying Sunday by the ISNA news agency.

On Sunday, the Iranian navy successfully tested “an anti-radar medium-range missile,” Mousavi said.

Iranian leaders and military officials have warned that additional Western sanctions could push them to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil flows.

Those warnings became more strident in recent days, with Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi vowing last Tuesday that “not a drop of oil will pass through the Strait of Hormuz” if more sanctions were imposed.

The United States, which bases its Fifth Fleet in the Gulf, has said it will not tolerate a closure of the strait.

Concern over the situation increased Saturday when US President Barack Obama signed into law new measures targeting Iran’s central bank and financial sector.

The extra US sanctions aim to squeeze Iran’s crucial oil sales, most of which are processed by the central bank. They will make foreign firms choose between doing business with the Islamic republic or the economically mighty United States.

Iran’s currency, the rial, slipped to a record low Sunday on that news.

The state news agency IRNA and an Iranian website tracking the currency said it slid to around 16,000 to the dollar.

The European Union is also mulling an embargo on Iranian oil purchases, and a decision could be announced at an EU foreign ministers’ meeting at the end of the month.

Iran, the second-biggest producer in OPEC after Saudi Arabia, depends on oil sales for 80 percent of its foreign currency earnings. AGENCIES

Iran: Seventy Feared Dead in an Air Crash

Seventy people are feared to have been killed in an air crash in Iran on Sunday night whereas 32 others were rescued with minor injuries.

The plane was on an internal flight from Mehrabad Airport in Tehran to the north-western city of Urmia when it crashed in heavy fog near its destination, state media reported.

Emergency crews were able to rescue up to 50 people from the wreckage with relatively light injuries, according to preliminary reports. Initial reports said that 105 people were on board in total.

The crash will once again focus attention on the state of the Iranian air industry, which has had difficulty in maintaining its fleet amid economic difficulties and international sanctions.

There have been at least five other major disasters since December 2005, the most recent being the loss of a Caspian Airlines jet en route for Yerevan in Armenia which came down in north-western Iran in July 2009 with the loss of all 168 on board.

According to reports, the plane involved in the latest incident, an Iran Air Boeing 727, was one hour late in departing because of bad weather across parts of the country.

Ahmadinejad slapped by top Revolutionary Guard: WikiLeaks

The chief of the Revolutionary Guard angrily slapped Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in early 2010, as Tehran was still dealing with the fallout from last year”s election, according to a leaked US diplomatic cable.

The cable, written in February, said Revolutionary Guard Chief of Staff Mohammed Ali Jafari blamed Ahmadinejad for the post-election “mess” in 2009, which saw the country roundly criticized by the West amid allegations of fraud and tough crackdowns on large-scale protests in Tehran.

The guard was founded after the Islamic revolution in 1979 to prevent dissident activity and is a strong internal force within the country, with economic and military wings.

Jafari is seen as close to the most conservative Iranian elements, but Ahmedinejad himself is also deemed a stalwart hawk.

The cable, titled “He who got slapped,” quotes an Iran watcher in Baku, Azerbaijan, who related that Ahmedinejad felt that in the aftermath of the post-election street protests, which turned violent, “people feel suffocated.”

In a meeting with his national security council, the president “mused that to defuse the situation it may be necessary to allow more personal and social freedoms, including more freedom of the press,” according to the source.

This provoked an angry retort from Jafari, according to the cable:

“You are wrong! (In fact) it is YOU who created this mess! And now you say give more freedom to the press?!”

The top guard then slapped the president in the face “causing an uproar and an immediate call for a break in the meeting” which did not resume for another two weeks, the cable said.

It took the intervention of Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, a senior member of the top oversight body, the Guardian Council, to get Jafari and Ahmedinejad back to the table, according to the cable.

The source cited in the cable released by WikiLeaks “predicted that events are trending towards major developments and a new phases” during 2010.

Seven dead, Hundreds Injured in Iran quake

At least seven people have died and hundreds more were injured in a 6.5-magnitude earthquake which struck southeastern Iran.

The late Monday quake, with epicentre near the town of Hosseinabad in Kerman province, was followed by 22 tremors, including one of 5.0 magnitude, the agency said quoting the geophysics department of Tehran university.

“So far damages have been concentrated in villages in the areas of Sahraj and seven dead and hundreds of injured have been removed from the debris,” Mehr quoted Kerman governor Esmail Najjar as saying.

“Considering the damages the death toll is expected to rise,” he said.
The quake struck at 10:12 pm (18:42 GMT) Monday and was even felt in the bordering province of Sistan-Baluchestan.

Mohsen Salehi, head of disaster management of Kerman province, told state news agency IRNA late on Monday that the communication lines in the area were down and the quake was followed by mild tremors.

State media reported that the quake affected region was largely mountainous and hence access to it was cut off making it difficult for relief to reach the victims.

Hosseinabad lies near the city of Bam, the site of the deadliest earthquake to hit Iran in recent times.

Iran not rogue state, nuke programme "deterrent": cables

SYDNEY: Australia is at odds with its major security ally the United States over Iran, saying it is not a “rogue state” and its nuclear weapons programme is for deterrence, not attack, according to U.S. cables released by WikiLeaks.

The documents, published in the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday, also reveal that Australia’s top security organisation believes Tehran sees a “grand bargain” with the United States as its best way to ensure national security.

But the Office of National Assessments (ONA) shared Washington’s fears that Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons could lead to conventional or nuclear war, noting a conflict between Israel and Iran was the greatest challenge to Middle East stability.

The ONA was also concerned that nuclear proliferation in the Middle East may drive Southeast Asian nations to pursue their own nuclear capabilities.

Iran Against Proposal to Halt Enrichment

Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi says the country will not accept any fuel bank proposal which would require Tehran to halt uranium enrichment.

We do not have any opposition to a fuel bank within the framework the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has established if provision of reliable and stable fuel for nuclear power plants is guaranteed, IRNA quoted head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran as saying. But not if they use political excuses to not provide fuel, Salehi added. Salehi said Moscow’s fuel ban proposal was based on the condition that the bank be established in Russia and last week the Russians said they had made preparations for it. Earlier this week, Russia announced that it had created the first international fuel bank in Angarsk, and the first batch of low-enriched uranium would be ready by the end of 2010. Russia has pledged to grant any IAEA member country that honors its non-proliferation commitments access to the reserves. This time the US and the agency have proposed a fuel bank, but its conditions are for countries which do not have the capability to produce fuel and given the Islamic Republic’s capability to produce fuel, this proposal is unacceptable for us, Salehi explained. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors voted Friday to establish an international fuel bank that nations can turn to in order to provide fuel for their reactors instead of producing it domestically. The objective of the bank is to reduce the risks of weapons proliferation by providing an alternative to the production of nuclear fuel. Countries which have enrichment technology would donate enriched fuel to a bank, from which states not possessing enrichment technology would obtain fuel for their power reactors. However, certain developing countries oppose the move, arguing that it may restrict their progress in nuclear technology and violate their rights in the nuclear fuel cycle. Earlier on Sunday, Salehi announced that the Islamic Republic has become self-sufficient in yellow-cake uranium. The first consignment of yellow cake was shipped from Gachin mine in Bandar Abbas to Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) under the surveillance of the IAEA.

US lawmakers fume over China’s Iran links

WASHINGTON: US lawmakers united Wednesday in anger over China’s insidious links with Iran, but also blamed Washington for failing to impose sanctions on Beijing for aiding Tehran’s nuclear program.

The harsh criticism came from both Republicans and Democrats after leaked secret cables showed US diplomats frustrated at China’s apparent reluctance to block missile parts shipments from North Korea to the Islamic republic ahead of talks between world powers and Tehran over its nuclear drive.

“There seems to be no doubt that Chinese companies are pursuing energy investments and selling Iran refined petroleum. The Chinese acknowledge it,” said Howard Berman, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“I’d like to know why we haven’t sanctioned any of the Chinese companies engaged in clearly sanctionable actions,” he told the committee gathered

Obama Says NATO Agrees on Missile Defence System

US President Barack Obama and his NATO allies agreed Friday to set up a new anti-missile defence shield across Europe and to invite Russia to take part.

The deal means NATO leaders would set up a network of radars and interceptors forming an anti-ballistic missile shield extending over Europe and possibly linking with Russia too. I’m pleased to announce that for the first time, we have agreed to develop a missile defence capability that’s strong enough to cover all NATO European territory and populations, as well as the United States, Obama said after a first session of the two-day NATO summit in Lisbon. Russia had been fiercely critical of a US missile defence plans, seeing it as a direct threat to its nuclear deterrent. But the 28 NATO powers hope President Dmitry Medvedev can be won over in discussions with the alliance on Saturday (today), the first encounter at this level since Moscow waged a war in Georgia in 2008.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said he expects Russia and the Allies to begin a joint study of Russia’s possible inclusion in the missile defence system, which would be a significant softening of Moscow’s position. In a strategic concept released Friday setting out NATO priorities for the next decade, the leaders agreed to develop the capability to defend our populations and territories against ballistic missile attack as a core element of our collective defence.We will actively seek cooperation on missile defence with Russia and other Euro-Atlantic partners, they said. The broad agreement marks a significant advance for Obama’s scheme, first announced in November 2009 when he ditched plans for a missile shield in Eastern Europe, the cause of a Cold War-style row with Russia. Obama decided to replace the shield, the brainchild of former US president George W. Bush, with a more mobile system targeting Iranian short-range and medium-range missiles, initially using sea-based interceptors. Before leaving Moscow, the Russian party said it was keen to share ideas about common missile defence but played down the chances of a major decision realigning the continent’s security. Rasmussen said Russia would likely be invited to link up with the NATO missile umbrella rather than merging its defences with those of the alliance, set up in 1949 to contain the Soviet Union. In addition to wooing the Russians, NATO allies have tiptoed around Turkey’s concerns about its sensitive relations with neighbour Iran.Diplomats had been discussing publicly identifying Iran as an emerging missile threat but Turkey had refused to countenance this possibility and Tehran did not figure in the document released.

Ayatollah Khamenei’s remarks on held Kashmir irk India

NEW DELHI: Upset over the comments made by Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Kashmir, India on Friday summoned Iranian Charge de Affairs and issued a strong demarche.

Expressing disappointment over the over the statement made by supreme leader Khamenei on Kashmir in which he clubbed Kashmir with Afghanistan, Palestine and Iraq, Ministry of External Affairs said: ” India view the statement as unpalatable, which impinges its territorial integrity and sovereignty.”

India has conveyed its deep disappointment to Tehran and New Delhi expects that Iran position on Kashmir doesn’t change.

Iran has reportedly told India that there is no change in the official position of Iran on Kashmir.

As a result of the row, India also abstained from voting on United Nation resolution on human rights situation in Iran piloted by Canada.

India has been

Russia to urge Iran to discuss nuclear programme

MOSCOW: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will urge Tehran to resume talks with global powers over its nuclear programme when he meets with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday, a Russian official said.

Medvedev is also willing to listen to Iran’s concerns on the issue when he meets with Ahmadinejad at a summit of Caspian Sea states in Azerbaijan, an official in the Russian delegation said in remarks authorised for release on Wednesday. AGENCIES

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