Are The Russians And Chinese Helping The Iranians In Their Missile Program?

The Mullahs' Missile: Iranian clerics watch a test of a Shahab-3 ballistic missile, with a 2,000 km range, in the desert outside Qom, Iran. AFP-Getty Images

From The Washington Times:

A researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reports that he has acquired internal Iranian documents showing China and North Korea's close involvement in Iran's missile program.

Geoffrey Forden, a research associate at MIT's Science, Technology and Global Security Working Group, stated in a Sept. 14 post on the Web site armscontrolwonk.com that he obtained "internal secret Iranian documents" showing how several countries are helping Tehran develop missiles or are providing technology for them.

"If my understanding is correct, they indicate that representatives from North Korea and China have been present at all phases of production and flight testing," Mr. Forden stated. "Iran has also gotten important help from Russia, though Russians do not appear to have been as ubiquitous as the Chinese and the North Koreans."

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Previous Post: Secret Iranian Missile Memos

My Comment: I posted a comment at Arms Control Wonk on the day that he published his post that outlines my doubts that the Russians were helping the Iranians in their missile program. The Russians have too much to lose, including any hope of convincing the Americans to abandon their anti-missile program in Europe if it became public that they were involved in helping the Iranians. I also remarked that if there was Russian assistance, it would be coming through backdoor channels or a former Soviet Republic.

Since that posting, and with the main stream media now looking at the story more seriously, I further investigated through my Russian contacts on the idea that maybe this was a covert Russian program. All my contacts said the same thing .... no. The Russian Government has no interest to assist or boost Iran's WMD program. Russian officials have already been burned by slow Iranian payment for services rendered in the construction of their nuclear plant ..... they do not have the stomach to repeat the same story on missile technology.

However .... one of my sources thinks that if the Iranians are getting Russian missile tech it is probably coming from either Belarus or the Ukraine, and from a non-government enterprise. This is just one source .... and he himself is speculating .... but if true one can then argue that Iran is indeed getting assistance from Russian professionals, and we in the West must put Russia on guard for not properly supervising their technology.

As to the Chinese .... I am 99% sure that they are providing some form of assistance. They have been consistently reckless when it comes to WMD systems .... selling and/or demanding quid pro quos for any service or product that is exchanged. Their assistance in Pakistan's nuclear bomb program has been particularly galling .... so if they were willing to do that .... missile tech is just one more product to sell.