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Cricket Diane C Phillips, cricketdiane, International Concerns, Iran, Iran long-range missiles tests, Iran nuclear program, Iran nuclear weapons, Iranian Persian nuclear atomic armaments, nuclear weapons, Pakistan
from – 12-16-09
Breaking News
9:17am UK, Wednesday December 16, 2009
Iran Test-Fires Long Range Missile
Alex Watts, Sky News Online
Iran has successfully test-fired a long range, improved Sejil 2 missile, the country’s state television has reported.
[ . . . ]
The missile can reportedly hit targets 1,250 miles away – putting it in reach of Israel as well as US bases in the Gulf, and south-east Europe.
Gordon Brown immediately condemned the missile test and warned Iran it faced tougher sanctions.
The Prime Minister discussed the development when he met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at climate change talks in Copenhagen.
He said: “This is a matter of serious concern to the international community and it does make the case for us moving further on sanctions.
“We will treat this with the seriousness it deserves.”
[ . . . ]
Concern increased this week after a document emerged suggesting Iran was working on testing a key nuclear bomb part.
The Times newspaper said it had obtained notes describing a four-year plan to test a neutron initiator, the component of a nuclear bomb that triggers an explosion.
Experts believe the documents are the strongest indicator yet of a continuing nuclear weapons programme in Iran.
The technical document describes the use of a neutron source, uranium deuteride, the Times said, which is feared to have no possible civilian or military use other than in a nuclear weapon.
Uranium deuteride is reportedly the material used in Pakistan’s bomb, from where Iran obtained its blueprint.
Last month, Iran unveiled plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants in breach of UN resolutions.
From:
SkyNews – UK
MORE ON THIS STORY: Nuclear Iran
- Oct 25,2009
Secret Iran Nuclear Site Inspected
- Oct 19,2009
Iran Uranium Threat Before Talks
- Oct 04,2009
Iran To Let In Nuclear Inspectors
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Video
Oct 01,2009
Obama In Nuclear Deadline To Iran
- Oct 02,2009
US Warns Iran Over Nuclear Facility
-
Video
Oct 01,2009
Crucial Talks Between Iran And UN
- Oct 01,2009
UN Talks Over Iran Begin In Geneva
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Video
Sep 28,2009
Iran Test-Fires Long-Range Missile
- Sep 28,2009
Iran Test-Fires Long-Range Missile
From:
***
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/12/16/iran.missile/
Iran tests upgraded long-range missile
// ]]>December 16, 2009 5:26 a.m. EST
Tehran, Iran (CNN) — Iran tested an upgraded version of a surface-to-surface missile with a range that makes it capable of reaching parts of Europe, state-run television reported Wednesday.
Iranian Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi said on Press-TV that the solid-fuel, high-speed Sajil-2 missile has “great maneuverability” and can access targets more than 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) away, making Israel and U.S. military bases in the Gulf reachable.
Vahidi said the missile has a shorter launch time and is intended to boost Iran’s deterrent capability.
Iran tested the initial version of the Sajil-2 back in May.
Then in September, days before a key meeting over nuclear issues with industrialized powers, Iran tested two types of long-range missiles. Those tests drew condemnation after the Islamic republic revealed the existence of a covert uranium enrichment site near the city of Qom.
[etc. ]
From:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/12/16/iran.missile/
**
And recommended on the same page –
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/12/14/iran.nuclear/index.html
Source: ‘Alarming’ secret document details Iran’s nuclear goals
// ]]>December 14, 2009 5:21 p.m. EST
“The only realistic use of this is in a nuclear weapon,” said David Albright, the president of the Institute for Science and International Security.
// <![CDATA[//
// <![CDATA[//
–Mehrdad Khonsari, former Iranian diplomat
- // <![CDATA[// Iran
- // <![CDATA[// International Atomic Energy Agency
- // <![CDATA[// Institute for Science and International Security
“It shows that either Iran is developing the capability [to build nuclear weapons] or it is moving to implement a bomb program — and either one is bad,” said Albright, who reviewed the document for the Times before the newspaper published its report Sunday.
But Albright warned that the document is edited and has no date on it. The source who gave it to the Times said it was from 2007, but neither the Times nor the ISIS was able to date it definitively, Albright said.
According to a report dated Monday on the Web site of Albright’s group, a neutron initiator is a critical component of a nuclear weapon. The ISIS report said the device “would most likely be placed at the center of a fission bomb made from weapon-grade uranium” and “works by the high explosives compressing the nuclear core and the initiator” to produce a “spurt of neutrons” as a result of fusion.
“The neutrons flood the core of weapon-grade uranium and initiate the chain reaction,” the ISIS report said.
Albright said the document described efforts to “research and test a neutron initiator,” a nuclear component for which he could not see “any civil use.”
[ etc. ]
From:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/12/14/iran.nuclear/index.html
If every country in the Persian Crescent has a nuclear bomb or two or twenty – then what happens? How is that going to work with Iran testing long-range solid fuel missiles to deliver those nuclear weapons payloads – when will it destroy us all?