Iran's Expanding its Dangerous Reach

Fire of Liberty

While a lot of folks in Europe and the State Department keep on saying that we should seek more talks with the mullahs in Iran on their nuclear program, the good folks over at the Wall Street Journal Editorial board (Subscription Required) have some info that might get them to take a double take. According to an editorial in WSJ titled "Iranian 'Opinion'," it looks like the Iranians have started to work at expanding the reach of their current Shehab-3 ballistic missiles to what is deemed well beyond the range of a defensive weapon. To make matters worse, the uranium that the folks in Iran are currently deeming as part of their "domestic energy program" can easily be placed on one of these missiles and launched into Europe's various capitals or even Israel, raining death on hundreds of thousands if not billions. To truly understand how dire the threat is, just read what the WSJ Opinion editors had to say in the piece today:

Meanwhile, the Iranian government is keeping busy in other ways, according to a report that appeared Friday in the German daily, Bild. According to the newspaper, Iran has purchased technology from North Korea that will allow it to extend the range of its Shahab-3 missiles. The current range of the Shahab-3 is 1,500 kilometers; after the upgrade, it could reach as far as 3,500 kilometers.

The paper quotes a German Intelligence Service report that says, "Given that the missiles with longer ranges will be available in the future, and in view of assumed efforts to provide them with nuclear warheads, Iran will be in a position to reach the whole of Israel and part of Central Europe." "In plain language," says Bild, "this means that the 'madmen of Tehran' could reach targets in the whole of Germany."

The European Union is seeking guarantees from Iran that its nuclear program is not designed to produce nuclear weapons. Iran says not to worry. But as the Bild report indicates, that's an "opinion" it could be dangerous for Europeans to "tolerate."

When you add up the nuclear program, expansion of the Shehab-3, as well as the continued statements calling for the death or destruction of Israel, then you pretty much understand why the US and Israel are watching every move on behalf of Iran. I just hope that we can give the true democrats of Iran a helping hand and encourage them to take out the mullahs. And after the mullahs and President Ahmadinejad have been banning western music and the re-institution of the all things related to the radical Islamic revolution of 1979, I think the regime will embolden the younger people fighting for freedom and democracy. It could get pretty interesting in the near future with respect to Iran.