Iran launches homemade bomber plane, calls it 'ambassador of death'

TEHRAN, SUNDAY

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday inaugurated Iran’s first domestically built unmanned bomber aircraft, calling it an "ambassador of death" to Iran’s enemies.

The 4-metre-long drone aircraft can carry up to four cruise missiles and will have a range of 620 miles (1,000kms), according to a state TV report — not far enough to reach archenemy Israel.

"The jet, as well as being an ambassador of death for the enemies of humanity, has a main message of peace and friendship," said Ahmadinejad at the inauguration ceremony, which fell on the country’s national day for its defense industries.

The goal of the aircraft, named Karrar or striker, is to "keep the enemy paralysed in its bases," he said, adding that the aircraft is for deterrence and defensive purposes.

The president championed the country’s military self-sufficiency program, and said it will continue "until the enemies of humanity lose hope of ever attacking Iran".

Arms embargo

Iran launched an arms development programme during its 1980-88 war with Iraq to compensate for a US weapons embargo and now produces own tanks, armored carries, missiles and even a fighter plane.

Iran frequently makes announcements about new advances in military technology that cannot be independently verified.

State TV showed video footage of the plane taking off from a launching pad and reported that the craft travelled at speeds of 560 miles per hour (900kms) and could alternatively be armed with two 250-pound bombs or 450-pound guided bomb.

Iran has been producing its own light, unmanned surveillance aircraft since the late 1980s. The ceremony came a day after Iran began to fuel its first nuclear reactor, with the help of Russia, amid international concerns over the possibility of a military dimension to its nuclear programme.

occasional threats

Iran says it is interested in generating electricity. Referring to Israel’s occasional threats against its nuclear facilities, Ahmadinejad called any attack unlikely, but said if Israel did, the reaction would be overwhelming.

"Scope of Iran’s reaction will include entire earth," said Ahmadinejad. "We also tell you — the West — that all options are on the table."

Ahmadinejad appeared to be consciously echoing the terminology used by the US and Israel in their statements not ruling out military option against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

On Friday, Iran also test-fired a new liquid fuel surface-to-surface missile, the Qiam-1, with advanced guidance systems.

Meanwhile, trucks rumbled into Iran’s first reactor at the weekend to begin loading uranium fuel in a long-delayed startup touted by officials as a symbol of their peaceful intentions to produce nuclear energy.

The Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant will be internationally supervised, including a pledge by Russia to safeguard it against materials being diverted for any possible use in creating nuclear weapons.

Rare compromise

Iran’s agreement to allow oversight was a rare compromise by the Islamic state over atomic programme.

Western powers have cautiously accepted the deal as a way to keep spent nuclear fuel from crossing over to any military use.

They say it illustrates their primary struggle: to block Iran’s drive to create material that could be used for nuclear weapons and not its pursuit of peaceful nuclear power.

Iran has long declared it has a right like other nations to produce nuclear energy. The country’s nuclear chief described the startup as a "symbol of resistance and patience".

"Despite pressure, sanctions and hardships by Western nations, we are witnessing the startup of the largest symbol of Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities," Ali Akbar Salehi said.

In several significant ways, the Bushehr plant stands apart from the showdowns over Iranian uranium enrichment, a process that can be used both to produce nuclear energy or nuclear weapons. It also could offer a possible test run for proposals to ease the impasse.

The Russian agreement to control supply of nuclear fuel at Bushehr eased opposition by US and allies. —AP