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US May Sell ‘Smart’ Bombs To UAE
WASHINGTON, Nov 11, (Agencies): The US government may soon announce plans for a large sale of precision-guided bombs to the United Arab Emirates, a source familiar with the arms sales plans said late on Thursday, as tensions mounted with Iran over its nuclear program.
The Pentagon is considering a significant sale of Joint Direct Attack Munitions made by Boeing Co, adding to other recent arms deals with the UAE. These include the sale of 500 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles about which US lawmakers were notified in September.
The sale of Boeing-built “bunker-buster” bombs and other munitions to UAE, a key Gulf ally, is part of an ongoing US effort to build a regional coalition to counter Iran.
No comment was immediately available from the Pentagon’s press office or the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which oversees foreign arms sales.
Boeing has sold thousands of JDAM bombs to the United States and its allies in recent months as they have replenished their arsenal of the popular precision-guided bombs.
Boeing spokesman Garrett Kasper said the company was unable to discuss the proposed contract since it would involve a foreign military sale, something that would be discussed at a government-to-government level.
The proposed sale, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, would expand the existing capabilities of UAE’s air force to target buildings such as the bunkers and tunnels where Iran is believed to be developing nuclear or other weapons. The newspaper said Washington was eyeing the sale of 4,900 of the so-called smart bombs.
Tension over Iran’s nuclear program has increased since Tuesday when the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Tehran appeared to have worked on designing a bomb and may still be conducting secret research to that end.
Speculation has heightened in the Israeli media that Israel may strike Iran’s nuclear sites and there is speculation in the Western press about a possible US attack.
But US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday warned that military action against Iran could have “unintended consequences” in the region. Tehran had warned earlier that an attack against its nuclear sites would be met by “iron fists.”
Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and that it is enriching uranium to run reactors for electricity generation.
The Obama administration is trying to build up the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, UAE, and Kuwait, as a unified counterweight to Iran.
Recent arms deals approved by the administration include a record $60 billion plan to sell Saudi Arabia advanced F-15 aircraft, some 2,000-pound (907-kg) JDAMs and other powerful munitions.
The US government also approved the sale of a $7 billion terminal missile defense program to UAE that would be built by Lockheed Martin Corp.
Washington has also sought to build up missile-defense systems across the region, with the goal of building an integrated network to defend against short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles from Iran.
The UAE has a fleet of advanced US-made F-16 fighters, also built by Lockheed, that could carry the JDAMs.
Once the Pentagon formally notifies lawmakers about a proposed sale, they have 30 days to raise objections, although such action is rare since sales are carefully vetted with Congress before they are formally announced.
This sale will likely include other weapons systems, including military aircraft and other weapons, according to the source familiar with the plans.
China and Iran have normal business ties which should not be targeted by any new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday, repeating that in any case sanctions were not the solution.
Iran already faces a wide range of UN sanctions, as well as some imposed unilaterally by the United States and the European Union.
New EU sanctions, which the bloc is discussing, would be a significant part of Western efforts to ratchet up pressure on Tehran after the UN nuclear watchdog’s report this week that laid bare a trove of intelligence suggesting Iran is seeking nuclear weapons.
“Just like many countries, China and Iran have transparent and normal commercial dealings,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing.
“These dealings benefit the peoples of both countries. They do not harm the interests of other countries nor the international community and they do not violate Security Council resolutions. Even less do they detract from China’s stance on nuclear proliferation,” he added.
“I wish to reiterate that dialogue and cooperation are the most effective channel for resolving the Iran nuclear issue. Pressure and sanctions do not help to fundamentally resolve the problem.”
He did not give a direct answer when asked whether new unilateral US sanctions would harm ties with Beijing, saying only that dialogue and cooperation were the pressing task.
Western governments would prefer further Security Council measures against Tehran. But Russia and China, both permanent Security Council members with veto power, are opposed and say new sanctions would not work.
Tehran says its nuclear programme is for producing electricity and other peaceful purposes.
The shadowy military man believed to be at the heart of Iran’s disputed nuclear activities likely lives under tight security and in secrecy to shield him against any assassins and keep him beyond the reach of UN sleuths, nuclear experts say.
A UN nuclear watchdog report this week identified Mohsen Fakhrizadeh as a key figure in suspected Iranian activities to develop the technology and skills needed for nuclear weapons and suggested he may still play a role in such efforts.
Fakhrizadeh, reportedly a senior officer in the Islamic state’s elite Revolutionary Guards, was the only Iranian official named in a detailed annex of the report, which said Tehran appeared to have worked on designing a nuclear weapon.
“He is viewed as extremely important,” said US-based proliferation expert David Albright, referring to assessments of Western intelligence officials.
Fakhrizadeh was named in a 2007 UN resolution on Iran as a person involved in nuclear or ballistic activities. An IAEA report the following year also referred to him briefly.
But analysts acknowledged that very little is publicly known about Fakhrizadeh, described by Albright’s think tank as a nuclear engineer who has overseen a number of projects related to weaponisation research and development.
“He is a mystery man,” said one official from a country which accuses Tehran of seeking to develop atomic bombs.
Greg Thielmann, of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, said he had never seen a photograph of Fakhrizadeh but that he may still be prominent in Iran’s activities.
“He was certainly central to the nuclear weapons programme halted in 2003 and I assume he continued to be important in sustaining and perhaps coordinating ongoing work related to future weaponisation,” Thielmann said.
A former Soviet nuclear scientist’s son-in-law has told the UN atomic agency that the scientist’s involvement in alleged Iranian efforts to develop nuclear arms is broader than originally thought, diplomats have told The Associated Press.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is trying to probe Iran for purportedly trying to develop such weapons and has implicated a “foreign expert” in a report as helping Iran work on ways to set off a nuclear blast through a sophisticated multipoint explosives trigger.
Diplomats and media have identified the expert as Vyacheslav Danilenko but say he has told IAEA investigators he was not involved in developing such a device, or in other aspects of Iran’s suspected covert work on nuclear weapons.
But the diplomats ‚Äî who asked for anonymity because their information was privileged ‚Äî said Danilenko’s son-in-law has further implicated the scientist, telling the agency the expert also helped Iran build a related project, a large steel chamber to contain the force of the blast set off by such explosives testing.
Diplomats first told the AP last week that the IAEA had evidence of such a chamber, set up at Iran’s Parchin military complex. The confidential IAEA report obtained by the AP on Wednesday confirmed their statements.
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/175993/reftab/36/Default.aspx
WASHINGTON, Nov 11, (Agencies): The US government may soon announce plans for a large sale of precision-guided bombs to the United Arab Emirates, a source familiar with the arms sales plans said late on Thursday, as tensions mounted with Iran over its nuclear program.
The Pentagon is considering a significant sale of Joint Direct Attack Munitions made by Boeing Co, adding to other recent arms deals with the UAE. These include the sale of 500 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles about which US lawmakers were notified in September.
The sale of Boeing-built “bunker-buster” bombs and other munitions to UAE, a key Gulf ally, is part of an ongoing US effort to build a regional coalition to counter Iran.
No comment was immediately available from the Pentagon’s press office or the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which oversees foreign arms sales.
Boeing has sold thousands of JDAM bombs to the United States and its allies in recent months as they have replenished their arsenal of the popular precision-guided bombs.
Boeing spokesman Garrett Kasper said the company was unable to discuss the proposed contract since it would involve a foreign military sale, something that would be discussed at a government-to-government level.
The proposed sale, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, would expand the existing capabilities of UAE’s air force to target buildings such as the bunkers and tunnels where Iran is believed to be developing nuclear or other weapons. The newspaper said Washington was eyeing the sale of 4,900 of the so-called smart bombs.
Tension over Iran’s nuclear program has increased since Tuesday when the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Tehran appeared to have worked on designing a bomb and may still be conducting secret research to that end.
Speculation has heightened in the Israeli media that Israel may strike Iran’s nuclear sites and there is speculation in the Western press about a possible US attack.
But US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday warned that military action against Iran could have “unintended consequences” in the region. Tehran had warned earlier that an attack against its nuclear sites would be met by “iron fists.”
Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and that it is enriching uranium to run reactors for electricity generation.
The Obama administration is trying to build up the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, UAE, and Kuwait, as a unified counterweight to Iran.
Recent arms deals approved by the administration include a record $60 billion plan to sell Saudi Arabia advanced F-15 aircraft, some 2,000-pound (907-kg) JDAMs and other powerful munitions.
The US government also approved the sale of a $7 billion terminal missile defense program to UAE that would be built by Lockheed Martin Corp.
Washington has also sought to build up missile-defense systems across the region, with the goal of building an integrated network to defend against short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles from Iran.
The UAE has a fleet of advanced US-made F-16 fighters, also built by Lockheed, that could carry the JDAMs.
Once the Pentagon formally notifies lawmakers about a proposed sale, they have 30 days to raise objections, although such action is rare since sales are carefully vetted with Congress before they are formally announced.
This sale will likely include other weapons systems, including military aircraft and other weapons, according to the source familiar with the plans.
China and Iran have normal business ties which should not be targeted by any new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday, repeating that in any case sanctions were not the solution.
Iran already faces a wide range of UN sanctions, as well as some imposed unilaterally by the United States and the European Union.
New EU sanctions, which the bloc is discussing, would be a significant part of Western efforts to ratchet up pressure on Tehran after the UN nuclear watchdog’s report this week that laid bare a trove of intelligence suggesting Iran is seeking nuclear weapons.
“Just like many countries, China and Iran have transparent and normal commercial dealings,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing.
“These dealings benefit the peoples of both countries. They do not harm the interests of other countries nor the international community and they do not violate Security Council resolutions. Even less do they detract from China’s stance on nuclear proliferation,” he added.
“I wish to reiterate that dialogue and cooperation are the most effective channel for resolving the Iran nuclear issue. Pressure and sanctions do not help to fundamentally resolve the problem.”
He did not give a direct answer when asked whether new unilateral US sanctions would harm ties with Beijing, saying only that dialogue and cooperation were the pressing task.
Western governments would prefer further Security Council measures against Tehran. But Russia and China, both permanent Security Council members with veto power, are opposed and say new sanctions would not work.
Tehran says its nuclear programme is for producing electricity and other peaceful purposes.
The shadowy military man believed to be at the heart of Iran’s disputed nuclear activities likely lives under tight security and in secrecy to shield him against any assassins and keep him beyond the reach of UN sleuths, nuclear experts say.
A UN nuclear watchdog report this week identified Mohsen Fakhrizadeh as a key figure in suspected Iranian activities to develop the technology and skills needed for nuclear weapons and suggested he may still play a role in such efforts.
Fakhrizadeh, reportedly a senior officer in the Islamic state’s elite Revolutionary Guards, was the only Iranian official named in a detailed annex of the report, which said Tehran appeared to have worked on designing a nuclear weapon.
“He is viewed as extremely important,” said US-based proliferation expert David Albright, referring to assessments of Western intelligence officials.
Fakhrizadeh was named in a 2007 UN resolution on Iran as a person involved in nuclear or ballistic activities. An IAEA report the following year also referred to him briefly.
But analysts acknowledged that very little is publicly known about Fakhrizadeh, described by Albright’s think tank as a nuclear engineer who has overseen a number of projects related to weaponisation research and development.
“He is a mystery man,” said one official from a country which accuses Tehran of seeking to develop atomic bombs.
Greg Thielmann, of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, said he had never seen a photograph of Fakhrizadeh but that he may still be prominent in Iran’s activities.
“He was certainly central to the nuclear weapons programme halted in 2003 and I assume he continued to be important in sustaining and perhaps coordinating ongoing work related to future weaponisation,” Thielmann said.
A former Soviet nuclear scientist’s son-in-law has told the UN atomic agency that the scientist’s involvement in alleged Iranian efforts to develop nuclear arms is broader than originally thought, diplomats have told The Associated Press.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is trying to probe Iran for purportedly trying to develop such weapons and has implicated a “foreign expert” in a report as helping Iran work on ways to set off a nuclear blast through a sophisticated multipoint explosives trigger.
Diplomats and media have identified the expert as Vyacheslav Danilenko but say he has told IAEA investigators he was not involved in developing such a device, or in other aspects of Iran’s suspected covert work on nuclear weapons.
But the diplomats ‚Äî who asked for anonymity because their information was privileged ‚Äî said Danilenko’s son-in-law has further implicated the scientist, telling the agency the expert also helped Iran build a related project, a large steel chamber to contain the force of the blast set off by such explosives testing.
Diplomats first told the AP last week that the IAEA had evidence of such a chamber, set up at Iran’s Parchin military complex. The confidential IAEA report obtained by the AP on Wednesday confirmed their statements.
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/175993/reftab/36/Default.aspx
