- In a rare statement, the head of the Iranian missile
development project said Thursday that Teheran's long-range rockets were
meant to hit Israel in the event of an Israeli strike on Iran.
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- Speaking in an interview in the international Arab daily
Al-Hayyat, Ahmed Wahid, also the head of his country's space development
program, said that Iran does not have nuclear weapons, unlike Israel, but
had decided to develop the "Shihab" rocket, which has a range
of 1,300 kilometers, in response to Israel's long-range "Jericho"
missile.
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- Meanwhile, Iran's defense minister said Friday that his
country would not fire at U.S. fighter jets flying over Iranian territory
on their way to attack Iraq, Israel Radio reported.
-
- He said that Iran also intends in the near future to
carry out further attempts to launch a satellite, which would be used for
both civilian and spy purposes and would be launched using the "Shihab
3" rocket.
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- The launch, Wahid said, would be performed using local
knowledge and expertise. He stressed that Iran urgently needs the satellite,
but cannot get the technology required from anywhere else, despite the
fact that many countries are in possession of the required information.
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- Wahid said that Iran's test last May of the Shihab 3
"proved Iran's ability to develop more accurate ballistic missiles,
with a range of over 1,300 kilometers." The missile was developed
to have a range of 1,500 kilometers, he said, because "our primary
aim in developing [the missile] is to hit Israeli targets in the event
that Israel fires missiles at Iran."
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- Wahid denied, however, that Iran has plans to develop
missiles tha could reach past Israel. "There is a tendentious campaign
against us by the Western media, which claims that we are trying to launch
missiles with a range of 12,000 kilometers, in order to hit the United
States. This is not true; American territory is not part of our strategic
defense targets."
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- Wahid also stated that Iran has no intention of producing
nuclear warheads. "Everyone knows that Israel has 200 nuclear warheads,"
he said. "But Iranian missiles are equipped with conventional warheads.
We have no nuclear weapons and we are not trying to obtain them. If there
is a strike against us, however, we will respond with all of our capabilities.
The Israelis may have many powerful weapons, but they know that they live
in a glass house, which cannot stand up to the stones of the children of
the intifada."
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- He added that Iran's nuclear facilities were not designed
for the production of nuclear weapons, but for civilian purposes only.
-
- (Throughout the interview, Wahid referred to the Shihab
2 instead of the Shihab 3.)
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- http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo
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