The commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ Aerospace Force, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, told reporters on Saturday, July 9 that the Guards tested their long-range ballistic missiles with much success earlier this year.
He revealed that during the Iranian month of Bahman (January 21- February 20), two ballistic missiles with a range of about 1200 miles, both capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, were fired from a region in Semnan province at specified targets near the entrance of the Indian Ocean. The commander explained that the tests were conducted at a time when American forces were also present in the region.
This revelation by the commander verifies the concern of UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, who recently told the House of Commons that Iran had conducted secret nuclear missile tests. The Iranian officials denied such claims at first, but Hajizadeh’s statement now confirms the tests did take place.
The Iranian commander also crowed about the recent missile war games held by Iran. To create an element of surprise against the enemy, he declared, Iran would fire missiles from underground silos and hide and scatter missile stocks. Iranian officials have openly said that these missiles, ready to be launched at a moment’s notice, are set with predetermined targets aimed at U.S. bases in the region and sensitive sites in Israel.
The Iranian missile advances have long been coming. Last year, I revealed that Iran was currently in possession of missiles not previously known to the West. Several months later the WikiLeaks releases about Iran revealed that the Revolutionary Guards had obtained a cache of advanced missiles from North Korea capable of carrying nuclear warheads. With a range of 2000 miles, these missiles give Iran the capacity to strike the capitals of Western Europe.
I also exposed that Iran has now obtained two nuclear warheads, with eight more scheduled to be delivered to the Guards within the next ten months. They expect to arm at least two warheads with a nuclear payload within the current Iranian calendar year (which ends in March of 2012). Other reports by the IAEA confirm that Iran has built and tested all the elements of a nuclear weapon design and that Iran has conducted “full scale experiments” of the complex high-explosive detonation component of the bomb.
Iran, in collaboration with North Korea, is also actively working on intercontinental ballistic missiles under the guise of their space program. The Iranians have successfully launched a small satellite into space. They have also announced that they have successfully developed the necessary technology to build and launch satellites designed to travel in an orbit 21,750 miles above the earth’s equator — and that, in the next few months, they will launch another rocket into space, this time carrying a monkey with a 330 kilogram payload. This is evidence that they have developed a rocket capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to any point on the planet.
According to nuclear weapons expert Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, who has served in the CIA, the EMP Commission, and is now president of EMPact America, Iran’s space program certainly is relevant to their efforts to develop an ICBM. Historically, if a nation could put a large payload (hundreds of kilograms) into orbit, a milestone had been reached signifying a military ICBM capability. Perhaps not coincidentally, had it been a warhead, the April 2009 satellite could, along part of its trajectory, have put an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) field down on the entire contiguous 48 states.
Also alarming is the Guards’ successful test of a Shahab ballistic missile from a ship, and its testing of a remote control detonation while in high altitude. Does Iran intend to use nuclear bombs for an electromagnetic attack? A missile launch from a ship, with a range of 2000 miles, would make it easy for any vessel to get within striking distance of launching a successful EMP attack on America.
Dr. Pry further states that a missile having a range of 2000 miles would enable Iran to perform a ship-launched EMP attack from the Gulf coast of the U.S. at a stand-off distance of over 500 miles to detonate a warhead at high-altitude over the center of the country, thereby covering the entire nation with an EMP field. Increased missile range enables the attacker to make increasingly stealthy (increased stand-off range) and optimized attacks.
Studies show that an EMP attack on America could bring the country to its knees by knocking out electrical power, computers, circuit boards controlling most automobiles and trucks, banking systems, communications, and food and water supplies. From an article titled “Electronics to Determine Fate of Future Wars“:
Once you confuse the enemy communication network, you can also disrupt the work of the enemy command and decision-making center. Even worse today when you disable a country’s military high command through disruption of communications, you will, in effect, disrupt all the affairs of that country. If the world’s industrial countries fail to devise effective ways to defend themselves against dangerous electronic assaults then they will disintegrate within a few years. American soldiers would not be able to find food to eat nor would they be able to fire a single shot.
The Iranian leaders have openly speculated about a new world order where Israel will no longer exist and where America’s demise is imminent. They believe the final glorification of Islam will take place through the coming of the last Islamic messiah at that time.
President Obama needs to realize that his approach of negotiations and sanctions has failed to deal with the radicals ruling Iran. The threat is real. The survival of the free world is in danger. We can no longer vacillate; the jihadists in Tehran must not be allowed to obtain the nuclear bomb.
The only reason for the current dilemma is our own shortcomings and our refusal to understand their ideology. The West continues to choose negotiations while providing Iran time to cross every red line.
It is time to realize that whatever price we may pay today in confronting this problem, it will be much less than when the Iranians get the bomb.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member