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Iran Seeks Missile Components in Norway, Official Says
Norway yesterday said it had thwarted a number of attempts by Iran to obtain from small domestic firms components suited for incorporation in nuclear-armed missiles, Reuters reported (see GSN, Feb. 10).
(Mar. 1) – Iran‘s Sajjil 2 missile lifts off in a 2009 test. The Middle Eastern nation has unsuccessfully sought potential missile components from Norway on several recent occasions, a top Norwegian security official said yesterday (Vahi Reza Alaee/Getty Images).
Entities targeted by Iran deal in “special components that can … be used in weapons of mass destruction, for building missiles,” Norwegian Police Security Service General Director Janne Kristiansen said. The United States and several European powers suspect Iran’s nuclear program is geared toward weapons development, a contention consistently denied by Tehran (see related GSN story, today).
Iran has focused in the past 12 months on acquiring Read more…
Libya: West ready to use force against Col Gaddafi amid chemical weapon fears
The Prime Minister disclosed that he would not rule out “the use of military assets” as Britain “must not tolerate this regime using military forces against its own people”. Britain and America are also thought to be considering arming rebel forces in Libya.
Adding to growing concern about the crumbling regime’s ability to commit last desperate acts of mass murder, British sources have disclosed that Libya still has stocks of mustard gas chemicals.
Mr Cameron told MPs that Britain and its allies were considering using fighter jets to impose a no-fly zone over Libya, patrolling and shooting down Libyan aircraft ordered to attack protesters.
The Pentagon announced that the Americans had begun “repositioning forces” around Libya to provide “flexibility”. The French also announced that they would back a possible military intervention with Nato partners.
The warnings were sounded after Gaddafi was accused of ordering Libyan aircraft to attack a Read more…
Limited Nuclear War Could Deplete Ozone Layer, Increasing Radiation
By Chris Schneidmiller
WASHINGTON — A nuclear conflict involving as few as 100 weapons could produce long-term damage to the ozone layer, enabling higher than “extreme” levels of ultraviolet radiation to reach the Earth’s surface, new research indicates (see GSN, March 16, 2010).
(Feb. 24) – A 1971 French nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll. The ozone layer could sustain lasting harm from a nuclear exchange involving as few as 100 weapons, allowing increased levels of ultraviolet radiation to reach the Earth’s surface, according to new research (Getty Images).
Increased levels of UV radiation from the sun could persist for years, possibly with a drastic impact on humans and the environment, even thousands of miles from the area of the nuclear conflict.
“A regional nuclear exchange of 100 15-kiloton weapons … would produce unprecedented low-ozone columns over populated areas in conjunction with the coldest surface temperatures experienced in the last 1,000 years, and would likely result in a global nuclear famine,” according to a presentation delivered on Friday at a major science conference in Washington.
Today, there are five recognized nuclear powers — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. India, Israel and Pakistan are all known or widely assumed to hold nuclear weapons, while North Korea has a Read more…
Iran Broadens Search for Raw Uranium: Intel
An intelligence assessment by an International Atomic Energy Agency member nation says Iran has broadened its secretive worldwide effort to secure unrefined uranium for its atomic work, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Feb. 23).
The finding fits with estimates that indigenous sources of raw uranium were insufficient for the Persian Gulf nation’s nuclear activities, according to AP. The United States and its allies have expressed concern that Iran’s uranium enrichment program could generate nuclear-weapon material, but Tehran has maintained its atomic efforts are geared strictly toward civilian endeavors.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi held an undisclosed meeting in January with high-level managers of mineral extraction in Zimbabwe “to resume negotiations … for the benefit of Iran’s uranium procurement plan,” the document states.
“This follows work carried out by Iranian engineers to map out uranium deposits in Africa and assess the amount of uranium they contain,” according to its two-page summary.
Salehi’s trip is an example of Iranian uranium acquisition activities that could encompass more than Read more…
Suspected Terrorist Had NYC in His Sights
A 20-year-old Saudi student arrested in Texas on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack with explosive chemicals had looked at New York City as a possible target.
Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, attending college near Lubbock, Texas, was charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.
“It is war … until the infidels leave defeated,” the chemical engineering student wrote in online postings.
Federal prosecutors said he had researched online how to construct an improvised explosive device using several chemicals as ingredients.
Court papers said Aldawsari had been researching New York City, including viewing real-time traffic cameras online that showed the city.
The FBI said he also had looked up the Dallas home of Read more…
North Korea ‘preparing nuclear test’
North Korea has started digging tunnels at its nuclear test site in apparent preparation for a third atomic detonation, a report said Sunday.
North Korea started building at least two new tunnels at its
facility in northeastern North Hamgyong province for a possible underground atomic test, according to a South Korean official.
The source told Yonhap news agency: “It is obvious evidence that it (the North) is preparing a third nuclear test.”
The report comes after Pyongyang racked Read more…
China Prevents Release of U.N. Report on North Korea
China has advised other nations on the U.N. Security Council that it intends to prevent the release of a U.N. document that charges North Korea with flouting international sanctions placed on its nuclear activities, Reuters reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 16).
The Security Council committee that monitors implementation of U.N. sanctions on the Stalinist state received the report at the end of January from the U.N. Panel of Experts on North Korea. Western diplomats said Beijing advised it would not allow the report to be forwarded to the broader Security Council for dissemination. The decision was perplexing to some as a Chinese expert was involved in drafting the report.
As one of five permanent Security Council members, China has veto authority over decisions made by the body. As the sanctions committee must have total agreement on all actions, Beijing can also block the Read more…
New North Korean Space Launch Site Appears Completed
Steve Herman
Photo: GeoEye and Globalsecurity.org
Image taken from the Ikonos satellite, January 10, 2011
New satellite imagery seen by VOA News shows North Korea has completed a launch tower at its second missile launch facility, in the country’s northwest. Intelligence analysts in the United States and South Korea are keeping a close eye on the facility, near Tongchang-dong.
The site is seen as a critical element in Pyongyang’s quest to build a missile capable of delivering a nuclear weapon across the Pacific.
The satellite pictures were taken during the past month. Most significantly, the photographs reveal Read more…
FBI: 100 Percent Chance of WMD Attack
By Ronald Kessler
Newsmax
The probability that the U.S. will be hit with a weapons of mass destruction attack at some point is 100 percent, Dr. Vahid Majidi, the FBI’s assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate, tells Newsmax.
Such an attack could be launched by foreign terrorists, lone wolves who are terrorists, or even by criminal elements, Majidi says. It would most likely employ chemical, biological, or radiological weapons rather than a nuclear device.
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