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Iranian resistance group alleges Tehran is developing new medium-range ballistic missile
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| 14 March 2006 |
By Robin Hughes JDW Deputy Editor
London
The Paris-based Iranian opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), claimed in London on 6 March claimed that Iran has developed a longer-range version of its Ghadr 101 medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and has ramped up production of its Shahab 3 MRBM.
The NCRI is a coalition of exiled opposition groups fiercely opposed to Iran's clerical rulers. The US State Department lists the NCRI and its armed wing, the People's Mojahadin Organisation of Iran (MKO), as a terrorist organisation.
Timed to coincide with the International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in Vienna, which includes discussions on Iran's nuclear programme, the NCRI announcement claimed that the Ghadr 101 development - the Ghadr 110 - follows what they allege to be the cancellation by former Iranian defence minister Admiral Ali Shamkhani of the Shahab 4 MRBM programme.
However, Uzi Rubin, former Director of the Israel Ballistic Missile Organisation, expressed scepticism over the NCRI allegations that the Shahab 4 programme had failed. "Other Iranian statements contend that the Shahab 4 programme continues, but that it is a space launcher rather than a ballistic missile.
"The NCRI's given reason for the termination of the programme is a failure in the propulsion system. The 'exit system' is probably the motor nozzle and the 'blast section' could be the combustion chamber of the rocket motor. This information tallies with old news items about a rocket motor design that failed. I would speculate that what was terminated was an attempt to fit a new and more powerful rocket motor to the Shahab 3. Perhaps this new combination is what the NCRI refers to as 'Shahab 4'," said Rubin.
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