Iran has reverse-engineered, deployed nuke-capable cruise missiles from
Ukraine
Geostrategy-Direct, www.geostrategy-direct.com, October 18, 2005

Teheran received 12 long-range Kh-55 cruise missiles from Ukraine in 2001
and has since enhanced the missiles and deployed them in the military, a
leading Iranian opposition source said.

Alireza Jafarzadeh, former chief of the National Council of Resistance of
Iran and president of the Washington-based Strategic Policy Consulting
Inc., said Iran has acquired a nuclear-capable missile with a range of
3,000 kilometers. At an Aug. 26 briefing in Washington, Jafarzadeh said the
missile could threaten cities in most of Europe.

The U.S. intelligence community has found Jafarzadeh to have highly
credible information on Iran's missile and nuclear weapons programs. "Four
years after receiving the cruise missiles from Ukraine, the Iranian regime
has now mastered the technology through a reverse engineering process,"
Jafarzadeh said. "In a meeting of the regime's Supreme National Security
Council, Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani declared that by acquiring this
3,000-kilometer-range missile with nuclear warhead capability, the Iranian
regime is able to threaten European countries."

In January 2005, Ukraine acknowledged that it sold Kh-55 cruise missiles to
Iran. At the time, Kiev said the missiles were inoperable. In his briefing,
Jafarzadeh said the Kh-55s were delivered to the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps, which reconstructed the missiles and transferred them to
secret centers.

"As of right now, these missiles constitute a portion of IRGC's missile
capability," Jafarzadeh said.

Jafarzadeh said two of the Kh-55s were delivered to the Parchin military
complex in Teheran for reverse engineering. Another two were delivered to
the so-called cruise center, a division of the Defense Ministry. The center
includes engineers trained in China, France, Germany, North Korea and
Russia.

"Based on most recent reports, during the past four years, the experts
from cruise research division have been able to rebuild the pieces of these
missiles," Jafarzadeh said. "The Iranian regime has gained knowledge and
access to this missile's technology." Jafarzadeh said Teheran was in the
last stages of reproducing the cruise missile, designed to escape enemy air
defenses. "Strengthening the missile system has been a pivotal part of the
mullah regime's military strategy," Jafarzadeh said.

"In light of Iran's nuclear weapons program, its advanced missile
technology and the progress it has made in a nuclear capable missile is
most threatening."