STOCKHOLM, 8 October 2004 — Israel is a greater nuclear threat than Iran, Mordechai Vanunu, who was freed in April after 18 years in an Israeli prison for revealing the country’s nuclear program, told Swedish Radio yesterday. “We can say to Israel that if you’re blaming Iran, let’s go make Israel and Iran both open their facilities and be nuclear free zones. I think Iran (and) Iraq accept this but Israel is still not ready to accept this policy,” Vanunu said in an interview on Swedish public radio.
Iran has been faced with stinging criticism for its atomic program, which it claims is purely peaceful, but which the United States and Israel in particular fear conceals efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Israel, which now views Iran as its No. 1 enemy after the downfall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, has been lobbying hard for greater pressure to be exerted on Tehran.
Vanunu, meanwhile, called in the interview on Israel to dismantle its nuclear program - a program the Jewish state has never acknowledged — pointing out that “Israel is the one who became aggressive and who took Arab lands”. He made his remarks despite a prohibition against speaking to foreign media set out at the time of his release.
At his release on April 21, Vanunu was subjected to a series of sweeping restrictions, including a ban on traveling abroad as well as holding unauthorized meetings with foreigners. Vanunu was sentenced in 1986 to 18 years in prison for “treason” and “espionage” after leaking top-secret details about the Dimona nuclear plant, where he was employed, to the Sunday Times.
Meanwhile, Iran intends to further improve its Shahab-3 missiles, which already have a claimed range of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles), a senior official was quoted as saying yesterday.
“The Shahab-3 missile has a range of 2,000 kilometers,” Nasser Maleki, deputy director of Iran’s aerospace industry organization, was quoted as saying.
“Very certainly we are going to improve our Shahab-3 missile and all of our other missiles.” When asked if Iran intended to produce longer-range ballistic missiles — such as a Shahab-4 — a device that would involve a two-stage propulsion system and possibly bring European capitals within range — the official replied only that “we are at the level of the Shahab-3”.
Steady progress made by Iran on its ballistic missile program is a major cause for concern for the international community, already alarmed over the country’s nuclear activities. On Aug. 11, Iran tested an upgraded version of its Shahab-3 missile, which is believed to be based on a North Korean design.
In another development, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who visits Tehran next week may raise the issue of Iran’s missile program which has alarmed the United States and Israel, diplomats said in Moscow yesterday. Moscow is a close nuclear and political partner and last year helped persuade Iran to temporarily halt its uranium enrichment program and allow tougher UN checks of its sites.
“Among his planned topics for discussion ... this issue (missiles) does not feature. But of course I cannot state for sure that it won’t be discussed,” Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev told a news conference.
“A lot of other questions usually arise during talks apart from the topics originally planned to be discussed.” Lavrov’s Oct. 10-11 visit will follow Moscow’s harsh criticism of Iran’s nuclear policies which some diplomats say could lead to Russia backing US efforts to take Iran to the UN Security Council for sanctions. Moscow has made no comment on the missile program.
In another development, Iranian President Muhammad Khatami yesterday arrived in Damascus on an unscheduled two-day visit for talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad on bilateral, international and regional relations. The visit, the fourth by Khatami to the Syrian capital, comes amid US and international pressure on both Syria and Iran, demanding Syria withdraw its troops from Lebanon and Iran to abandon its nuclear program.
Syria and Iran are also pressured by the United States to give up backing the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance group and the Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Jihad, all on the US list of terrorist organizations.
Both Syria and Iran say Hezbollah, Hamas and Jihad are freedom fighters, resisting Israeli occupation. Khatami is on a regional tour that has already taken him to Algeria, Sudan and Oman before Syria, from which he is scheduled to leave home today.
