VIENNA: Despite apparently reducing illicit purchases that breach UN sanctions, Iran is pursuing development of ballistic missiles, a confidential UN report says, posing an acute challenge to six powers negotiating with Tehran to rein in its nuclear programme.
On Sunday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described as ‘stupid and idiotic’ Western expectations for his country to curb its missile programme. He decreed mass production of ballistic weapons, striking a defiant tone just before nuclear talks resumed on Wednesday in Vienna.
The high-stakes negotiations aim for a deal by a July 20 deadline to end a long stand-off that has raised the risk of a wider Middle East war.
Tehran’s often repeated view that missiles should not be part of the nuclear talks appears to enjoy the support of Russia, one of the six global powers.
But a senior U.S. official made clear this week that Tehran’s ballistic capabilities must be addressed in the negotiations since U.N. Security Council resolutions on Iran ‘among many other things, do say that any missile capable of delivering a nuclear weapon must be dealt with.’
A ban on developing missiles suited to carrying a nuclear warhead is included in a 2010 Security Council resolution, its fourth – and toughest – imposed on the Islamic Republic for defying council demands that it suspend uranium enrichment and other nuclear activities of potential use in bomb-making.
The new report by the UN Panel of Experts, seen by Reuters, said Iran’s overall attempts to procure materials for its nuclear and missile programmes appeared to have slowed down as it pursues negotiations with world powers that it hopes will bring an end to international sanctions.
But the same report makes clear that, apart from holding off on test-firing one type of rocket, Iran shows no sign of putting the brakes on the expansion of its missile programme.
‘Iran is continuing development of its ballistic missile and space programmes,’ the experts said, citing the August 2013 identification of a new missile launch site near Shahrud and a larger missile and satellite launch complex at the Imam Khomeini Space Center at Semnan believed to be near completion.
The report also noted what it described as the June 2013 opening of the Imam Sadeq Observation and Monitoring Center for monitoring space objects, including satellites.
The dispute over missiles has already surfaced behind closed doors in Vienna. On Wednesday, the first day of the latest round of the nuclear talks, the US delegation made clear that it wanted to discuss both Iran’s ballistic missile programme and possible military dimensions of its past nuclear research.
But in a sign of the wide divergence between the U.S. and Iranian positions, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif merely laughed and ignored the remarks, according to an Iranian official present. An American official declined to comment but referred to remarks from a senior US official earlier this week, who said ‘every issue’ must be resolved.
Diplomats close to the talks say Britain, France and Germany agree with the US view. But Russia, which has engaged in missile-technology trade with Iran, seems to disagree. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by Iranian media as saying that Tehran’s missile programme was not on the agenda.
The Islamic Republic denies accusations that it is seeking the capability to make nuclear weapons. It insists that its missiles are part of its conventional armed forces and rules out including them on the agenda for the nuclear discussions.
Speaking to reporters at a meeting with US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised the UN panel’s report, saying it showed how Tehran works ‘to deceive the international community to continue to develop ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles).
‘As the talks continue, one thing that must guide the international community and that is we must not let the ayatollahs win, we mustn’t let the foremost terrorist state of our time, Iran, develop the capability to produce nuclear weapons,’ the right-wing premier said in Jerusalem. Hagel responded: ‘I want to assure you of the United States’ commitment to ensuring Iran does not get a nuclear weapon – and that America will do what we must to live up to that commitment – which is what President Obama said here in Israel last year.’ (Agencies)