China continues to supply technology for Iran's nukes, missiles
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, February 4, 2000
WASHINGTON -- Despite repeated pledges, China continues to supply
Iran with technology and equipment for Teheran's missile and nuclear weapons
programs, the CIA said in a report to Congress.
The report said Iran actively sought technology and equipment
for weapons of mass destruction programs last year from suppliers in Russia,
China, North Korea and western Europe. The report said that during 1999
China and Russia supplied "a considerable amount and a wide variety of
ballistic missile-related goods and technology to Iran."
"In doing so, Teheran is attempting to develop an indigeous capability
to produce various types of weapons -- nuclear, chemical and biological --
and their delivery systems," said the report to Congress by the CIA's
Non-Proliferation Center. "Teheran is using these goods and technologies to
support current production programs and to achieve its goal of becoming
self-sufficient in the production of ballistic missiles."
The CIA referred to several Iranian ballistic missile programs. The
report said Iran could probably deploy a limited number of Shihab-3 missiles
in a crisis. The missile, tested in July 1998, has a range of 1,300
kilometers and can strike Israel, Turkey and Gulf countries.
The CIA said Iran is also working on Shihab-4, with an estimated range
of up to 2,500 kilometers, and plans the Shihab-5, with a range of 5,500
kilometers.
The CIA said Iran could eventually turn into a missile exporter. "Iran,
in the next few years, may be able to
supply not only complete Scuds, but also Shihab 3s, and related technology,
and perhaps even more advanced technologies, if Teheran continues to achieve
assistance from Russia, China and North Korea."
The report said Syria and Iraq may soon emerge as suppliers of
missile-related technology after initially offering technology and equipment related to shorter-range ballistic
missiles.
"But as their domestic infrastructures and expertise develop, they will
be able to offer a broader range of technologies that could include
longer-range missiles and related technology," the report said.
China and Russia have also helped Iran develop its chemical weapons and
nuclear programs, the report said. The CIA said the nuclear program is
civilian but could be used for weapons.
"Iran is attempting to establish a complete nuclear fuel cycle for its
civilian energy program," the report said. "In that guise, it seeks to
obtain whole facilities, such as a uranium conversion facility, that in fact
could be used in any number of ways in support of efforts to produce fissile
material needed for a nuclear weapon."
"Despite international efforts to curtail the flow of critical
technologies and equipment, Teheran continues to seek fissile material and
technology for weapons development and has set up an elaborate system of
military and civilian organizations to support its effort."
In Moscow, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Russia must
control its export of nuclear technology and called on Iran to end
development of weapons of mass destruction. "Far more needs to be done to
address this serious problem -- a commitment at all levels to better
implementation, better enforcement, better control of exports,'' Ms.
Albright said in a speech to Russia's diplomacy academy on Wednesday.
Ms. Albright said that despite Russian improvement in controls the United States
remains concerned about the spread of nuclear and ballistic missile
capability in the Middle East and on the Korean peninsula.
Friday, February 4, 2000
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