IRAN has unveiled a high-speed drone with a range of more than 1000km, described by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a “messenger of death”.
A day after Israel denounced as “unacceptable” the supply of Russian uranium rods for Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor, Mr Ahmadinejad personally presented a pilotless, jet-powered bomber Iran says can air-launch guided missiles or deliver two 100kg bombs.
The weapon’s purported range would not reach Israel from Iran, but would vastly increase the threat posed to Israeli targets if supplied to Iranian-backed terrorist groups in Lebanon or Syria.
Mr Ahmadinejad seldom wastes a chance to combine showmanship and barely coherent rhetoric, and yesterday was no exception. “This jet, before it heralds death for enemies, is a messenger of salvation and dignity for humanity,” he told an invited audience.
He later made it clear that the Karar (Assailant) drone was intended to deter attacks on his nation’s nuclear infrastructure. Iran, he said, should “reach a point where we can cut off the aggressor’s arm before he acts, and if we miss, we should destroy him before he hits the target”.
An Israeli defence official called the announcement “another sign of Iran’s so-called ‘peaceful’ initiatives. They are making a mockery of the diplomatic options on the table.”
The unveiling came amid intensifying debate in the US and Israel on whether a pre-emptive military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities may become inevitable – and, if so, when.
Mr Ahmadinejad’s defence minister earlier claimed that Iran’s home-grown defence industry had “reached a point where it does not need any aid from other countries”.
The boast has limited credibility, given growing optimism in Western capitals that sanctions are beginning to bite – in particular, by cutting off the supply of parts needed to repair Iran’s ageing nuclear centrifuges. However, it was clearly intended to signal that Iran wants to be thought of as militarily self-sufficient, despite Russia’s support for sanctions. Moscow has resisted fresh sanctions until this year, partly because of its lucrative arms trade with Tehran.
Under the terms of a $US1 billion deal signed in 1995, it is also the exclusive supplier of nuclear fuel to the Bushehr reactor in the south of the country.
As Iran celebrated the insertion of the first fuel rods into the Bushehr reactor at the weekend, Israel said it was “totally unacceptable that a country that so blatantly violates resolutions of the Security Council should enjoy the fruits of using nuclear energy”.
An article in next month’s Atlantic Monthly magazine, based on interviews with senior policymakers in Israel and Washington – including one with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before he took office – claims “a consensus emerged that there is a better than 50 per cent chance that Israel will launch a strike by next July”.
In an interview broadcast yesterday by Al-Jazeera, Mr Ahmadinejad ruled out an Israeli or US attack against the Islamic republic.
“I reject the possibility of an attack by Israel. Israel is too weak to face up to Iran militarily,” he said.
