Iran's eye on outer space Another piece in Tehran's atomic puzzle? 3 Edition

• Published in: International herald tribune
• Main Author: William J. Broad and David E. Sanger
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Paris New York Times Company 04.04.2006
• Edition: International edition
• Subjects: Cordesman, Anthony
• ISSN: 0294-8052

To some government analysts and other experts in the West, Iran's space debut is potentially worrisome. While world attention has focused on whether Iran is clandestinely seeking nuclear arms, these analysts say the launchings mark a new stage in its growing efforts to master a range of sophisticated technologies, including rockets and satellites. The concern is that Tehran could one day turn such advances to atomic ends. John Negroponte, director of national intelligence, recently called the danger that Tehran "will acquire a nuclear weapon and the ability to integrate it with ballistic missiles Iran already possesses" a cause "for immediate concern." Iran has missiles that can reach about 1,000 miles, or 1,600 kilometers, which is as far away as Israel and, as Negroponte put it, has "the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in the Middle East." American intelligence officials estimate that it might field an intercontinental missile by 2015, but such forecasts are always rough approximations. At first, Iran bought Russian Scud missiles and then learned how to make them on its own, calling them Shahab-1, Persian for shooting star. The missiles, 36 feet, or 10 meters, tall, can throw one-ton warheads roughly 200 miles. By 1991, Iran learned how to extend their range to about 300 miles, naming the new weapon Shahab-2.