Nothing to do with pursuing nuclear warheads too? Bruce http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/610492.html
Last update - 17:57 09/08/2005 <http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/images/0.gif> <http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/images/0.gif> <http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/images/0.gif> <http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/images/0.gif> Iran says it increased range, accuracy of its Shihab-3 missile <http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/images/0.gif> By The Associated Press <http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/images/0.gif> Iran said Tuesday it has improved the range and accuracy of its Shihab-3 missile, saying the weapon can strike targets as far away as 2,000 kilometers with an accuracy of within one meter. Admiral Ali Shamkhani, Iran's outgoing defense minister, also said Iran would halt its international cooperation on its nuclear development if the United States or Israel attacks its nuclear facilities. "If some day they attack, we will drop all our nuclear commitments," Shamkhani told reporters at a press briefing Tuesday. "We are capable of meeting our defense needs and improving (the Shihab-3's) specifications at any time." He did not mention retaliating to an attack by military means. <http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/images/0.gif> <http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/images/0.gif> Advertisement Iran on Monday resumed activity at one of its nuclear facilities that carries out an early stage in the nuclear fuel process, defying European demands that it maintain an eight-month suspension of its program. But Iran continues to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, allowing it access to its sites. Meanwhile, Gen. Ahmad Vahid, the father of Iran's missile industry, told the Associated Press that Iran has boosted the missile's range from about 1,300 kilometers to 2,000 kilometers. "We have been working on the missile's range since we started manufacturing it," said Vahid, a member of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards. In July, Iran said it carried out a successful test of a solid fuel motor for the Shihab-3. Vahid did not specify whether the new fuel was behind the missile's improved performance. Iran has been careful to disperse its nuclear facilities and protect parts of it underground, wary of airstrikes to take out the program such as the 1981 Israeli air raid that destroyed neighboring Iraq's main nuclear reactor at Osirak. "Our nuclear capabilities are not annihilable," Vahid said. "We have mastered nuclear science by ourselves. In case of any damage, we could construct it somewhere else." Last year, Iran threatened to destroy Israel's Dimona nuclear reactor should the Jewish state attack Iran. Dimona is believed to be home to Israel's nuclear weapons development program. Israel maintains a nuclear monopoly in the Middle East and is thought to harbor about 200 warheads deployed on ballistic missiles, aircraft and submarines, according to the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Israeli officials do not comment on the country's nuclear weapons potential. Iran launched its arms development program during its 1980-88 war with Iraq to compensate for a U.S. weapons embargo. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and a fighter plane. Shamkhani said Iran's missiles were not targeting any particular country. "We have reached a level of regional deterrence," he said. <http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/images/0.gif> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! 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