Iran now can strike
much of Mideast

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Iran, cited by the United States as one of three countries in the "axis of evil," can target most of the Gulf region and Turkey, a new report says.

"Such missiles are likely to have enough range-payload to give Iran the ability to strike all targets on the southern coast of the Gulf and all of the populated areas in Iraq, although not the West," the report by author Anthony Cordesman, said. "Iran could also reach targets in part of eastern Syria, the eastern third of Turkey, and cover targets in the border area of the former Soviet Union, western Afghanistan and western Pakistan."

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Iran has warned the United States and Israel against any attack amid Washington's accusations that Tehran is the leading sponsor of terrorism and is harboring al-Qaida insurgents. President George W. Bush has termed Iran as part of the "axis of evil" that includes Iraq and North Korea, while Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has encouraged an overthrow of the Islamic regime.

The report, by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Iran has hundreds of missiles with ranges that can strike at U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf as well as Turkey and the Arabian Peninsula.

The CSIS report, released on Jan. 30, details Iran's military capabilities. The report said Iran has up to 300 Scud B missiles and eight to 15 launchers. The Scud B has a range of up to 300 kilometers.

Iran, the report said, also has the Scud C with a range of 500 kilometers. The estimated number of Scud Cs range from 60 to 170.

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The report said Iran might have also acquired No-Dong missiles from North Korea and has acquired much of the technology required for the production of a long-range Chinese-designed cruise missile. The missile has a range of around 1,000 kilometers. Tehran is also said to be interested in acquiring the Taepo Dong-2, a missile with a range of 6,000 kilometers.

"Iran seems to want enough missiles and launchers to make its missile force highly dispersible," the report said. "Iran has created shelters and tunnels in its coastal areas which it could use to store Scud and other missiles in hardened sites and reduce their vulnerability to air attack."

Meanwhile, a Russian program to construct an Iranian nuclear reactor appears to have sustained another delay.

Russian officials said the $800 million Bushehr reactor project has experienced technical and administration woes that could set back efforts at completion for up to a year. They said this would mean that Bushehr would be completed in 2005.

Iranian officials had maintained that they received a commitment from Moscow to complete Bushehr in early to mid-2004.

In mid-February, Russian Deputy Nuclear Energy Minister Valery Lebedev said Moscow plans to complete construction of Bushehr in late 2004 or early 2005. Lebedev was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying that Russia would not cancel its Bushehr contract despite U.S. pressure.

Lebedev said the Bushehr reactor is meant as a power reactor supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency. He said Russia would keep the spent nuclear fuel from the reactor for reprocessing in compliance with the international nuclear nonproliferation regime.

Western diplomatic sources said Bushehr had been delayed amid a dispute over Iranian payment as well as technical and administration woes. More than a year ago, Iran and Russia agreed on steps to complete Bushehr by 2004, nearly five years behind schedule.

"It is profitable today to cooperate with Iran, so it means it is necessary to trade with Iran," Andrei Ryabov, a member of the Council of the Moscow Carnegie Center, told a briefing on Feb. 6. "If it is profitable to lay a pipe tomorrow to China, so there will be a turn in that direction."

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