Mossad Chief Warns Of Iran Missile Threat

London Times | June 28, 2002 | Richard Beeston

[Stand Watch Listen]

THE HEAD OF Israel’s intelligence service has warned Nato that Iran is not only pressing ahead with a nuclear weapon programme but is developing missiles capable of hitting Europe and North America.

Ephraim Halevy, the Mossad director, told Nato chiefs in a confidential briefing this week that Iran represented the most serious threat to stability in the Middle East and a danger to the West as well. Mr Halevy, a veteran diplomat, told Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, the Secretary-General, and other Nato representatives that Iran was investing heavily in the construction of a missile with a range beyond that of its Shibab-3, which can hit targets 3,000km away.

"Missiles with longer ranges could reach Europe and in the future even North America," said the spy chief, whose speech on Wednesday was leaked to the Hebrew daily Haaretz.

He also accused the Tehran regime of developing a nuclear weapon capability, a secret chemical weapon programme and carrying out research and development on biological weapons.

Israel has a vested interested in securing Western support against Iran, which remains its most implacable foe. The Islamic regime in Tehran supports Palestinian militant groups and Hezbollah, the Shia Muslim militia in Lebanon.

Mr Halevy may also have wanted to serve notice to Nato that Israel regards Iran as a direct threat to its security and that unless the nuclear issue is resolved peacefully it may take action on its own.

In a separate report, Haaretz said that Israel’s National Security Council was conducting an urgent review of its policy towards Iran. Some Israeli officials believe "that everything must be done including, if necessary, using force to prevent Tehran from achieving nuclear weapons capabilities".

The threat was reminiscent of Israel’s bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osiraq in 1981. At the time, the bombing was condemned in the West, but today it is regarded as a vital step in preventing President Saddam Hussein from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

In Iran the problem is more complex. The main Iranian nuclear facility is at Bushehr, where hundreds of Russian nuclear scientists and technicians are helping Iran to construct a nuclear reactor.

America and Israel have already put pressure on Moscow to halt the work, but President Putin has refused. Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, predicted recently that Iran would be a nuclear power by 2005.

Some in Israel believe that it would be a mistake to go to war against Iran which, despite its anti-Israeli rhetoric, has in the past co-operated secretly with the country against the perceived common threat of the Arab world.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I would frankly be astounded if Iran didn't have the bomb by now. Israel developed their's with the help of the South Africans in 1964.