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New Iranian Unmanned Bomber

MayberryMayberry Regular
edited August 2010 in Spurious Generalities
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/world/middleeast/23iran.html?_r=1

TEHRAN — Iran unveiled a long-range unmanned bomber on Sunday, the latest in a series of announcements about new Iranian military advances as tensions rise over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at a ceremony to mark Iran’s Defense Industry Day, called the weapon a “messenger of glory and salvation for humanity” but an “ambassador of death” for Iran’s enemies.

The new aircraft, called Karrar or destroyer, can carry up to four cruise missiles and has a range of 620 miles, according to reports on state-owned media, not long enough to reach Israel.

The Karrar drone is the third such unmanned military aircraft to be announced this year and the second new weapon that Iran has unveiled in a matter of days. The United States and Israel have said they would not rule out an airstrike to stop Iran from building a nuclear bomb, and while Iran has continued to hold out the possibility of compromise, it has also showed off new long-range missiles, submarines and plans to launch high-altitude satellites.

“This is just the beginning,” Mr. Ahmadinejad told military officials. “Today the defense of Iran is identical with the defense of the existence of humanity.”

The announcement came just a day after a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Iran’s first nuclear power plant. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful, but Israel and many Western and Arab nations have voiced deep concerns about the possibility that Iran could use its nuclear fuel to make a bomb. On Friday, Iran’s defense minister, Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, announced a successful test launching of the Qiam surface-to-surface missile.

Iran’s first ever domestically built satellite is featured on Iran’s 5000 rial banknote, the equivalent of 50 cents, and Mr. Ahmadinejad’s recent promise to put the first Iranian astronaut into space within 15 years was anticipated in February by the dispatch into outer space of a mouse, two turtles and a box of earthworms.

The unveiling ceremony was held at Malek-Ashtar University of Technology here, thought by many in the American intelligence community to have close links to the Revolutionary Guards. In his comments, Mr. Ahmadinejad used provocative language to call on Western powers to engage Iran in dialogue.

“They tell us all options are on the table. We also say to them, all options are on the table,” he said in comments broadcast on state television. “The first option is for you to come down from your tower of pride and sit like polite children and talk.”

“Come down,” he repeated. “If you do not, the hands of the peoples of the world will bring you down.”

LOL an Iranian bomber that doesn't have enough range to reach Jewland? What's the point? :facepalm:
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  • VickyVicky Regular
    edited August 2010
    top Iranian military official warned Sunday that his country’s forces would respond decisively in the Persian Gulf, a crucial energy waterway, in the event of a U.S. strike over its nuclear program.

    The warning by deputy Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander Yadollah Javani added to a surge of stepped-up rhetoric by senior Iranians in recent days about the threat of war and Tehran’s response.

    “If the Americans make the slightest mistake, the security of the region will be endangered,” Javani told the official IRNA news agency. “Security in the Persian Gulf should be for all or none.”

    “The Persian Gulf is a strategic region, and if it is endangered, they will suffer losses and our response will be firm,” he added.

    Up to 40 percent of the world’s daily oil supply is transported through the Persian Gulf and its Strait of Hormuz chokepoint, on its way to markets in the industrialized world. Tankers plying the narrow waterway traverse waters controlled by Iran and Oman.

    IRNA’s report did not indicate what prompted Javani’s remarks, although in separate comments to the Mehr news agency, the IRGC deputy head referred to a recent resolution introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, voicing support for Israel’s right to use all means necessary to deal with nuclear threats posed by Iran.

    Introduced by Texas Republican Rep. Louis Gohmert and co-sponsored by 46 colleagues, H. Res 1553 was referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on July 22.

    Javani told Mehr that Iran’s response to any attack would not be limited to its geographical boundaries, and that military action against Iran would “disrupt global peace.”

    Another top IRGC official, Mojtaba Zolnour – who represents supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the Corps – delivered a separate warning Sunday about Iranian retaliation in the Persian Gulf should its enemies meddle with Iranian cargo ships.

    The most recent U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Iran over its nuclear activities, passed in June, calls on states to inspect all cargo heading to or from Iran, in their territory and on the high seas, if they have reason to suspect it contains prohibited items.

    “The sanctions will backfire and have grave consequences,” Zolnour said.

    The head of the state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, which is targeted by the sanctions resolution, said last week that no Iranian ship had been stopped and searched since the measure was passed.

    On Saturday, a senior officer in Iran’s regular armed forces, Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri, linked the U.N.-authorized searching of ships and H. Res 1553, saying they were part of a “comprehensive plot” by Iran’s enemies involving propaganda, psychological warfare and military plans.

    A reformist Iranian news site, Rooz, reported recently on an increase in statements about “war” from senior political and military figures in the country.

    Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen on Sunday confirmed that the military option remains on the table with regard to stopping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.

    “It’s one of the options that the president has,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Again, I hope we don't get to that. But it’s an important option, and it’s one that’s well understood.”

    Reiterating a point he has made in the past, Mullen said he was concerned about the “unintended consequences” of both outcomes – of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon and of a military attack on Iran.

    They're for America.
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