Here's another...BEFORE he was installed in office...Early Bush headache: Long-range
Iranian missile
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, December 15, 2000
NICOSIA ~ A Russian delegation's visit to Teheran to discuss
technology
aid has U.S. security experts talking about an early challenge for
the incoming
Bush administration: The prospect of a long-range Iranian missile.
U.S. officials said Iran has increased its reliance on Russian
technology for
Teheran's missile development program. They said China and North
Korea
have become marginal suppliers in Teheran's effort to produce its
Shihab
series of intermediate- and long-range missiles. Beijing has
pledged to slow
down its missile export program.
"It may slow down some aspects of the Iranian missile program, but
the
continuation toward achievement of Shihab-3, 4 and 5 is still very
much on
track thanks to the Russians," U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of
State
Richard Roth said.
The result, said Geoffrey Kemp, a senior aide on Middle East
policy in the
Reagan administration, is that Iran will acquire long-range
missiles. Kemp said
he also expected China to resume missile sales to Teheran, Middle
East
Newsline reports.
"We're going to have to live with them," Kemp said. "U.S.-China
relations are
going to be red button issue for the coming administration, and
China has
growing interests and energy needs from the Middle East. So this
is a sleeper
issue that we should bear in mind for the future."
Meanwhile, Iran and Russia are quietly discussing what sensitive
technologies
Teheran will receive from Moscow over the next year.
Officials from both countries began their meeting in Teheran on
Tuesday. The
Russian delegation is led by Yuri Kapralov, director of the
security and
disarmament department of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The export control group meets annually. The last meeting was in
1999 in
Moscow.
Western diplomatic sources monitoring the meeting said Iran has
been
requesting technology that can be used for nuclear weapons. They
said
Teheran has also requested technology for such major weapons as
aircraft and
tank production.
Iranian officials said the two countries agreed that their
cooperation would not
violate international nonproliferation accords. The two countries
expressed
support for a nuclear free zone in the Middle East.
"Iran's initiative in producing missiles within framework of the
UN General
Assembly ratification and Russia's proposal for the universal
missile control
system were among other topics discussed at the meeting," the
official Islamic
Republic News Agency said.
Russia is being pressured by the United States to restrict weapons
technology
to Iran. U.S. and Russian military chiefs met in Moscow this week
to discuss
the issue and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and
Russian Foreign
Minister Igor Ivanov will meet later this month on the same issue.
Friday, December 15, 2000
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