Explosion reported
near Iran nuke site

JERUSALEM – An unknown aircraft reportedly fired a missile today in an Iranian province that maintains a large nuclear plant suspected by the U.S. of producing illicit nuclear materials.

Iranian Arabic language Al-Alam television reported that a "powerful explosion" was heard this morning on the outskirts of Dailam in the Bushehr province.

Witnesses said that the missile was fired from an unknown plane 12 miles from the city.

Iranian reports later said the blast was caused by a fuel tank that was accidentally dropped from an Iranian plane in the area.

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While there was no immediate reaction from Iranian officials, a member of the Supreme National Security Council later claimed the blast was part of a dam-building project.

"The explosion that occurred in the Dailam region was that of dam-building operations," Ali Agha Mohammadi told the ISNA students news agency.

Iran six weeks ago warned the international community it would down any foreign military aircraft that entered its airspace without permission. The U.S. has been conducting routine drone surveillance of Iran's suspected nuclear sites.

Israel denied it was involved with the blast. Earlier today, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said during a visit to London Iran was six months away from having the needed expertise to produce a nuclear bomb.

The Israeli warning followed a warning last week by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for Iran to immediately abandon any pursuit of nuclear weapons and meet its international obligations if it wanted to avoid a conflict.

While Britain, France and Germany have been trying to use diplomatic negotiations to ease the growing crisis with Tehran over its nuclear aspirations, the U.S. and Israel has been finding ways to increasing the pressure against Iran, even hinting at possible military action.

Vice President Dick Cheney said last month, "If, in fact, the Israelis became convinced the Iranians had a significant nuclear capability, given the fact that Iran has a stated policy that their objective is the destruction of Israel, the Israelis might well decide to act first and let the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterwards."

Iran's 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactor in Beshehr is due to start operating in late 2005. Dailam is about 100 miles from the nuclear power plant.

The Beshehr plant was built by Russia, which reportedly installed a mobile radar system earlier this month to protect the nuclear reactor. The portable unit is designed to detect low, medium and high altitude incoming missiles and would complicate any attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Sources told WND operators of the Beshehr plant arrived last month at a nuclear training center in Novovoronezh, Russia, where they have been receiving instruction on facility operation.

The Al-Alam television report can be viewed at the Middle East Media Research Institute's website.