Homeland Security and the Iranian Reach
Secretary of State Clinton leaves today on her first trip to South America as a member of the Obama administration. The purpose is to try and gain support for new sanctions against Iran aimed at stopping the development of a nuclear capability. It is generally feared around the world that Irans nuclear development program is not for peaceful use, but rather for a nuclear weapons arsenal.
At the present time we are not at any direct risk in United States proper from the arsenal of missiles that the Iranians currently have operational. But that does not mean that at some point in the future they will not have the capability to reach us directly, or one of our military installations around the world. As an example, the United States currently has over 10 military installations in Germany, approximately 3800 km from Tehran.
As indicated in the chart below, Iran will have the ability at some point, possibly in the near future, to reach there with a ballistic missile that may contain a nuclear warhead if its development efforts continue to move forward unabated.
Should Iran, as expected, continue down this path to becoming nuclear armed, the United States as well as our allies will be at risk. The recent, successful launch of satellite technology capable of guiding an ICBM raises the stakes even higher. Currently, for an ally such as Israel that lies only 1700 km from Tehran, the risk of Iranian missile attack already exists.
This is why it is critical to deal with Iran now in a way that will insure that they never gain this nuclear capability. Diplomacy, sanctions and rhetoric are seemingly not the way. Military action will be necessary at some point to take the capability out. The problem with delaying this inevitability is obvious.
Iranian Missile Capability
SRBM: Short-range ballistic missile
MRBM: Medium-range ballistic missile
ICBM: Intercontinental ballistic missile
One kilometer equals .62 miles
O-operational D-developmental U-unknown
Designation Alternate Name Class Payload Range (km) Status
Fateh A-110 Mershad;Zelzal-2 SRBM Single warhead 210 O
Ghadr-110 IRBM 1800 U
M-11 variant DF-11 SRBM Single warhead 400 U
M-9 variant DF-15 SRBM Single warhead 800 U
Shahab-1 Scud B SRBM Single warhead 300 O
Shahab-2 Scud C SRBM Single warhead 550-600 O
Shahab-3 MRBM Single warhead 1300-2500 O
Shahab-4 MRBM Single warhead 2000-3000 D
Shahab-5 IRBM Single warhead 4000-5000 D
Shahab-6 IRBM Single warhead 6000 D
Zelzal-1/2/3 SRBM Single warhead 125/200/300 O
Information courtesy of MissileThreat.com
Photo courtesy of Bloomberg
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