29-11-10 Iran Fortifies Its Arsenal With the Aid of North Korea

Secret American intelligence assessments have concluded that Iran has obtained a cache of advanced missiles,based on a Russian design,that are much more powerful than anything Washington has publicly conceded that Tehran has in its arsenal,diplomatic cables show.Iran obtained 19 of the missiles from North Korea,according to a cable dated Feb.24 of this year.The cable is a detailed,highly classified account of a meeting between top Russian officials and an American delegation led by Vann H. Van Diepen,an official with the State Department’s nonproliferation division who,as a national intelligence officer several years ago,played a crucial role in the 2007 assessment of Iran’s nuclear capacity.The missiles could for the first time give Iran the capacity to strike at capitals in Western Europe or easily reach Moscow,and American officials warned that their advanced propulsion could speed Iran’s development of intercontinental ballistic missiles.There has been scattered but persistent speculation on the topic since 2006,when fragmentary reports surfaced that North Korea might have sold Iran missiles based on a Russian design called the R-27,once used aboard Soviet submarines to carry nuclear warheads.In the unclassified world,many arms control experts concluded that isolated components made their way to Iran,but there has been little support for the idea that complete missiles,with their huge thrusters,had been secretly shipped.