Iran’s test-firing of a missile capable of striking Israel or Saudi
Arabia with a nuclear bomb should be sufficient warning to President
Clinton not to deplete the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, say
U.S. defense analysts.
Iran announced Thursday that “the first Shahab-3 missile, using
liquid and solid fuel, was successfully test-fired on the first day of
the Holy Defense Week,” as reported in the Tehran-based Voice of the
Islamic Republic of Iran.
Clinton’s move to release oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum
Reserve — an action that is not popular inside the Defense Department
— is coming under heightened criticism by some in the Pentagon who are
openly saying the reserve should be kept intact in case of war.
Richard Fisher, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, sees the
missile firings as a warning.
“Iran’s latest missile test illustrates the insanity of playing with
our strategic petroleum reserve,” he said.
The Clinton administration previously denounced a July test of the
Shahab-3, which it said could reach Israel or U.S. troops in Saudi
Arabia. The State Department reacted similarly to the Sept. 21 Iranian
test firing.
“We regard their aggressive efforts to develop missile capability as
a serious threat,” confirmed State Department deputy spokesman Philip
Reeker.
Ironically, this criticism comes at a time when,
as reported in
WorldNetDaily, the State Department has authorized an Iranian cabinet officer to lobby Iranian-American citizens in meetings across the United States, something that has not been allowed for over 20 years.
In addition to the missile test, Iranian state television reported that Iran’s regular army began its largest military exercises of the year in the mountainous terrain near the Iraqi border. According to the report, top Iranian military commanders, involving air force and ground troops using radar interception systems, were supervising the three-day maneuvers in the western Kurdistan province. The war games, code-named Zolfaqar-3, began a day after Iran test fired the Shahab-3 missile.
“The maneuvers are aimed at testing the army’s defense capability and its military might,” stated the official Iranian news release.
 |
| Two-stage Iranian Shahab-3 is capable of delivering a nuclear weapon over 800 miles. |
In 1999, the long-range Shahab-3 missile appeared in a Tehran military parade with the slogan, “Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth.” The Iranian Shahab-3 is capable of reaching all of the oil-rich states in the Middle East and can reportedly strike targets as far away as the Suez Canal.
According to a March Jane’s Defense report, “Israeli and U.S. defense officials agree that Iran has achieved the capability to deploy the medium-range Shahab-3 missile and is now focusing on limited emergency deployment of the missile, with a range of 1,300 km.”
The new threat from Iran appears serious enough for the Pentagon to react amid heightened concerns over possible Iraqi SCUD attacks on Israel. The U.S. Army has already placed a Patriot anti-missile battery on alert in Germany in case of a possible Iraqi missile attack. In addition, the U.S. aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln is reported to be steaming for the Persian Gulf after being hastily withdrawn from a tour of East Asia.
The Clinton administration recently made unsuccessful diplomatic moves to Iran, seeking to improve relations between Tehran and Washington. Reportedly, the administration was assisting BP/Amoco in an effort to re-open Western investment and operation of Iranian oil and gas reserves. BP/Amoco sources stated that progress had been good in supervised negotiations with the Iranians.
Tehran’s missile test sent jitters through the oil markets and raised concerns inside the Pentagon over possible strikes against the Persian Gulf states. The new military war games and the Shahab missile launch are seen by U.S. defense analysts as part of an effort to hike oil prices by hardliners inside the Iranian government. The cost of oil is at record highs, topping prices set during the 1980s Iran/Iraq war.
According to national security sources inside Capitol Hill, the sudden rise in oil prices has allowed Iran to
accelerate its missile
development program.
“Iran is trading oil in exchange for missile technology,” stated the national security adviser who requested he not be identified.
“The three main sources of Iranian missile technology are Russia, China and North Korea. The Shahab-3 is reported to be an improved version of [the] North Korean Nodong missile.”
Russia has previously been accused of assisting Iranian missile development programs. In 1998, Vice President Al Gore talked to Russia’s Prime Minister Yevgeni Primakov about Iran’s efforts to acquire more powerful ballistic missiles from Russia. The tests of the Shahab missile engines, according to U.S. intelligence, used monitoring equipment supplied by Russian design bureau NPO Trud.
The Clinton administration has also imposed sanctions against Russia for providing assistance that allowed Iran to increase the range, reliability and accuracy of the Nodong short-range missiles it obtained from North Korea. In 1998, Clinton’s national security adviser, Samuel Berger, sanctioned three Russian companies for the missile technology sales to Iran.
Congressional sources have also previously accused Russia of selling advanced technology to Iran. Rep. Curt Weldon, R. Pa., chairman of the Military Research and Development Subcommittee, recently blasted Russia for proliferating missile technology.
“Russia continues to operate a robust military research and
development program. Russian missile technology is being sold to Iran, Iraq and North Korea,” said Weldon.
Related stories:
Clinton approves oil-price hikes
Clinton’s foreign-policy legacy
