Inside the Ring

Iranian missile support

A researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reports that he has acquired internal Iranian documents showing China and North Korea’s close involvement in Iran’s missile program.

Geoffrey Forden, a research associate at MIT’s Science, Technology and Global Security Working Group, stated in a Sept. 14 post on the Web site armscontrolwonk.com that he obtained “internal secret Iranian documents” showing how several countries are helping Tehran develop missiles or are providing technology for them.

“If my understanding is correct, they indicate that representatives from North Korea and China have been present at all phases of production and flight testing,” Mr. Forden stated. “Iran has also gotten important help from Russia, though Russians do not appear to have been as ubiquitous as the Chinese and the North Koreans.”

The backing, outlined with code names, originated from “governmental level” entities, and not individuals operating outside the governments, he stated.

Russian assistance to Iran’s missile program - denied by Moscow in the past - includes “images of engines and turbopumps that are obviously of Russian origin - either their actual production or at the very least their designs - and these internal Iranian memos, make the case overwhelmingly,” Mr. Forden said.

“Iran is clearly mustering its industrial and intellectual infrastructure to produce long range missiles and, more importantly, to assimilate the knowhow to design and produce more advanced missiles in the future,” Mr. Forden stated.

In an e-mail, he declined to elaborate on the documents and has not published the Farsi-language memos in order to protect the sources. He said the documents bear Iranian state-run industry logos.

“I hope I have not provided the Iranian security organs with enough information to track people down,” he told Inside the Ring. “There are, of course, any number of organizations that are involved in missile production or related fields, and they all have different logos, etc.”

Chinese backing for Iran’s missile program has been known to U.S. intelligence agencies since the 1990s. Intelligence documents obtained by The Washington Times in the 1990s outlined extensive covert Chinese support to Iran’s missile programs. The documents showed that China was supplying specialty metals, guidance systems and telemetry equipment used in missile development, and also had trained Iranian missile technicians.

Chinese Embassy spokesman Wang Baodong had no immediate comment on China’s role in assisting Iran’s missile program. China’s government in the past has denied any illicit support for Iran’s missile program.

IO Funds

Congress plans to cut millions of dollars from the fiscal 2010 defense budget that the Pentagon says are urgently needed for information operations to counter Iranian propaganda in Iraq and terrorist propaganda worldwide.

Senate and House defense appropriations conferees currently are debating planned cuts by the Senate of $58.8 million requested by military commands for what is called IO, while the House version would cut some $500 million.

The Senate bill would cut $20 million from U.S. Central Command and $20 million from Special Operations Command IO budgets, significantly reducing their funds and operations. It also will further cut $10.9 million from the European Command and $7.9 million from Africa Command. That will effectively kill IO programs in those commands, according to a defense source who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly.

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