Iran:  United States, Israel, Concerned Over Shahab 3 Missile Test

U.S. and Israeli officials have expressed concern over an announcement yesterday by Iran that it had conducted the final test of its Shahab 3 long-range ballistic missile, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, July 7).

“We have long had very serious concerns about Iranian missile programs,” U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

U.S. officials said the latest Shahab 3 test was one of several conducted in recent years and was not a surprise.  Iran’s ballistic missile program poses “a threat to the region and a threat to U.S. interests in the region,” and would be addressed with various forms of pressure with “like-minded countries,” Boucher said.

Israel is also concerned about Iran’s progress in the development of the Shahab 3, which would have the ability to hit targets there, according to the Times.

“We are very concerned, especially since we know that Iran is seeking to acquire the nuclear weapon,” Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner told Agence France-Presse.  “The combination of Shahab 3 and the nuclear weapon would be a very serious threat on the stability of the region,” he said (Nazila Fathi, New York Times, July 8).

Israel’s Arrow missile interceptor system is capable of providing full protection against the Shahab 3, said Arye Herzog, head of the Homa Missile Defense program (see GSN, June 2).  Herzog added, however, that Israel still lacked full protection against the Shahab 4, a more advanced ballistic missile Iran has been reported as trying to develop (Israel Defense Forces Radio/BBC Monitoring International, July 8).

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Iran:  Tehran Conducts Final Test on Shahab 3 Ballistic Missile

Iran has conducted a final test of its Shahab 3 long-range ballistic missile, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said today (see GSN, Oct. 23, 2002).

“It happened a few weeks ago, it was a delivery test.  The missile has the same range we announced before,” spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.  “It was the final test,” he added.

With a range of 1,300 kilometers, the Shahab 3 has the ability to strike Israel.

Iranian Defense Minister Adm. Ali Shamkhani has denied that Iran is planning to develop a more advanced missile, the Shahab 4, according to Reuters (see GSN, Jan. 28).  Instead, Iran has worked to improve the accuracy and payload of the Shahab 3, Shamkhani has said (Reuters, July 7).

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International Response:  Hague Code of Conduct Subscribers Discuss Implementation Measures

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — Officials from countries that subscribe to an international code of conduct designed to prevent ballistic missile proliferation met last week in Vienna to discuss implementation measures (see GSN, March 31).

During the two-day meeting, subscribers to the Hague Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation discussed the implementation of confidence-building measures as called for in the code, such as annual declarations on national ballistic missile and space-launch vehicle policies and pre-launch notifications, according to a Dutch Foreign Ministry press statement.  Subscribers discussed “practical” implementation measures and “compared notes,” a U.S. State Department official told Global Security Newswire today, adding that meeting provisions are confidential among code subscribers.

The meeting also included discussion on ways to encourage additional countries to subscribe to the code, according to the Dutch Foreign Ministry statement.  Currently, the code has 106 subscribers, with Turkmenistan and Burundi being the most recent countries to join.  A number of countries the United States believes to be acquiring or proliferating ballistic missiles, such as China, North Korea, India and Pakistan, however, have refused to join the code (see GSN, Nov. 20, 2002). 

In last week’s meeting, code adherents also discussed the relationship of the code to the United Nations.  Such discussions focused on possible ways to “advertise” the code in a U.N. forum to encourage other countries to subscribe and to promote greater recognition, the State Department official said.

The code was formally launched at a ceremony held in November at The Hague.  It calls on subscribers to exercise “maximum possible restraint” in developing and deploying ballistic missiles and to avoid aiding the ballistic missile programs of any countries that might be developing weapons of mass destruction.  To increase transparency, the code calls on members to implement several confidence-building measures.

Code subscribers are expected to meet in October in New York City, with Chile assuming chairmanship of the code from the Netherlands, according to the Dutch Foreign Ministry statement.

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