Iran pursues ballistic missile work, complicating nuclear talks

Updated 17 May 2014
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Iran pursues ballistic missile work, complicating nuclear talks

* US brought up missiles as Vienna nuclear talks resumed
* Iran refusing to discuss ballistic missiles -Iranian official
* Russia says Iran’s missiles not on nuclear talks agenda
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VIENNA, May 16 : Despite apparently reducing illicit purchases that breach UN sanctions, Iran is pursuing development of ballistic missiles, a confidential UN report says, posing an acute challenge to six powers negotiating with Tehran to rein in its nuclear program.
On Sunday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described as “stupid and idiotic” Western expectations for his country to curb its missile development. He decreed mass production of ballistic weapons, striking a defiant tone just before nuclear talks resumed on Wednesday in Vienna.
The high-stakes negotiations aim for a deal by a July 20 deadline to end a long stand-off that has raised the risk of a wider Middle East war.
Tehran’s often repeated view that missiles should not be part of the nuclear talks appears to enjoy the support of Russia, one of the six global powers.
But a senior US official made clear this week that Tehran’s ballistic capabilities must be addressed in the negotiations since UN Security Council resolutions on Iran “among many other things, do say that any missile capable of delivering a nuclear weapon must be dealt with.”
A ban on developing missiles suited to carrying a nuclear warhead is included in a 2010 Security Council resolution, its fourth — and toughest — imposed on the Islamic Republic for defying council demands that it suspend uranium enrichment and other nuclear activities of potential use in bomb-making.
The new report by the UN Panel of Experts, seen by Reuters, said Iran’s overall attempts to illicitly procure materials for its banned nuclear and missile programs appear to have slowed down as it pursues negotiations with world powers that it hopes will bring an end to sanctions.
But the same report makes clear that, apart from holding off on test-firing one type of rocket, Iran shows no sign of putting the brakes on the expansion of its missile program.
“Iran is continuing development of its ballistic missile and space programs,” the experts said. “A new missile launch site 40 km (25 miles) from the city of Shahrud was identified in August 2013. A larger launch complex is assessed to be close to completion at the Imam Khomeini Space Center at Semnan for ballistic missiles and satellite launch vehicles.”
The report also cited what it described as the June 2013 opening of the Imam Sadeq Observation and Monitoring Center for monitoring space objects, including satellites.
The dispute over missiles has already surfaced behind closed doors in Vienna. On Wednesday, the first day of the latest round of the nuclear talks, the US delegation made clear that it wanted to discuss both Iran’s ballistic missile program and possible military dimensions of its past nuclear research.
But in a sign of the wide divergence between the US and Iranian positions, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif merely laughed and ignored the remarks, according to an Iranian official present. An American official declined to comment but referred to remarks from a senior US official earlier this week, who said “every issue” must be resolved.

ARMS EXPERT: LEAVE MISSILES ASIDE
Diplomats close to the talks say Britain, France and Germany agree with the US view. But Russia, which has engaged in missile-technology trade with Iran, appears to disagree. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by Iranian media as saying that Tehran’s missile program was not on the agenda.
The Islamic Republic denies accusations that it is seeking the capability to make nuclear weapons. It insists that its missiles are part of its conventional armed forces and rules out including them on the agenda for the nuclear discussions.
Daryl Kimball of the Arms Control Association, a Washington-based research and advocacy group, said that missiles should not become a deal-breaker.
“The best way to address Iran’s potential to exploit nuclear-capable missiles is to ensure that Iran’s nuclear program is sufficiently limited and transparent,” he said.
“To seek Iran-specific limits on conventional weapons that Iran regards as vital to its self-defense would jeopardize the negotiations’ key objective.”
An Iranian official confirmed that the ballistic missile program would not be interrupted. “Iran purchases parts from various countries, including Russia and China and then assembles missiles in Iran,” he said.
“Some Gulf countries have been involved in the missile delivery to Iran. Iran has never stopped its missile program and has no intention to do so; it gives Iran an upper hand.”
The UN Panel of Experts, which monitors compliance with the UN sanctions regime against Iran, said in its 49-page report that monitoring Iranian missile work was not easy.

MISSILE WORK MORE HIDDEN THAN NUCLEAR ACTIVITY
“Analysis of Iran’s ballistic missile program remains a challenge. With the exception of several launches, periodic displays of hardware and one recent revelation of a new ballistic launch facility, the program is opaque and not subject to the same level of transparency that Iran’s nuclear activities are under IAEA safeguards.”
It said procurement for the missile program continues, with no apparent changes in the type of materials Iran seeks.
“Among the most important items Iran is reportedly seeking are metals as well as components for guidance systems and fuel,” the panel report said. “Similarities between Iran’s ballistic missiles and space programs can make it difficult for states to distinguish the end-uses of procured items.”
The experts said it was unclear why Iran appears not to have test-fired a Sejil, Iran’s longest-range, solid-fueled ballistic missile, since 2011. This might be due to satisfaction with its performance, an inability to procure components or ingredients for solid fuel, or a shift to other missiles considered to be of higher priority, according to the report.
“Iran may also have decided to suspend further testing which could be interpreted as inconsistent with the spirit of the (six power) negotiations,” the experts assessed.
Nevertheless, the panel said that proof Iran is continuing to develop the Sejil came from a 2013 parade of their launchers.
On Feb. 10, Iran test-fired the Barani, which the experts said the Iranian Defense Ministry had described as “a new generation of long-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying multiple re-entry vehicle (MRV) payloads.” A MRV payload deploys multiple warheads in a pattern against a single target.
Iran had announced no other ballistic test, the panel said.
According to Jane’s Defense Weekly, Iran recently unveiled an indigenous copy of the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 unmanned aerial vehicle as well as “other, potentially more significant, revelations” — including new versions of the Fateh-110 tactical ballistic missile known as the Hormuz-1 and Hormuz-2.
Military analysts say, however, that Iran has exaggerated its military achievements, including its missile capabilities.


Turkiye detains 11 after protest boycott calls

Updated 5 sec ago
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Turkiye detains 11 after protest boycott calls

  • The leader of the main opposition CHP party called for the purchase boycott on Wednesday to put more pressure on the government
Istanbul: Turkish authorities on Thursday detained at least 11 people suspected of spreading calls for a blanket boycott of purchases to protest the jailing of Istanbul’s opposition mayor, the official Anadolu news agency reported.
Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the calls, accusing the suspects of inciting “hatred and discrimination,” Anadolu said, adding that authorities were seeking five additional suspects.
The leader of the main opposition CHP party called for the purchase boycott on Wednesday to put more pressure on the government after the March 19 arrest of Istanbul’s popular mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
Imamoglu is the main rival to President Recip Tayyip Erdogan, and his detention set off a wave of mass protests not seen in Turkiye for more than a decade.
Nearly 2,000 people, including several hundred students and young people, have been arrested since the start of the protests.
Some cafes, restaurants and bars heeded the boycott call and remained closed Wednesday in Istanbul as well as in the capital Ankara, AFP journalists reported.
CHP leader Ozgur Ozel had already launched a call to boycott dozens of Turkish companies and groups reputed to be close to Erdogan’s government.

Syria local govt says Israeli bombardment kills 9 civilians

Updated 03 April 2025
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Syria local govt says Israeli bombardment kills 9 civilians

  • The shelling near the city of Nawa came after an Israeli incursion

Damascus: The provincial government in southern Syria’s Daraa said nine civilians were killed and several injured in Israeli bombardment following an “Israeli incursion.”
The shelling near the city of Nawa came after an “Israeli incursion, with “the occupation forces advancing for the first time to this depth,” it said in a statement posted to Telegram.
Israeli military says ‘responded’ to fire
The Israeli military said Thursday it had responded to fire from gunmen during an operation in southern Syria, adding that it had fired at and “eliminated” several fighters in ground and air strikes.
“The presence of weapons in southern Syria poses a threat to the State of Israel,” a military spokesperson said, adding that the army would “not allow the existence of a military threat in Syria and will act against it.”


Shiny and deadly, unexploded munitions a threat to Gaza children

Updated 03 April 2025
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Shiny and deadly, unexploded munitions a threat to Gaza children

  • “We’re losing two people a day to UXO (unexploded ordnance) at the moment,” says former UK military deminer
  • UN Mine Action Service says it could take 14 years to make the coastal territory safe from unexploded bombs

 

JERUSALEM: War has left Gaza littered with unexploded bombs that will take years to clear, with children drawn to metal casings maimed or even killed when they try to pick them up, a demining expert said.
Nicholas Orr, a former UK military deminer, told AFP after a mission to the war-battered Palestinian territory that “we’re losing two people a day to UXO (unexploded ordnance) at the moment.”
According to Orr, most of the casualties are children out of school desperate for something to do, searching through the rubble of bombed-out buildings sometimes for lack of better playthings.
“They’re bored, they’re running around, they find something curious, they play with it, and that’s the end,” he said.
Among the victims was 15-year-old Ahmed Azzam, who lost his leg to an explosive left in the rubble as he returned to his home in the southern city of Rafah after months of displacement.
“We were inspecting the remains of our home and there was a suspicious object in the rubble,” Azzam told AFP.
“I didn’t know it was explosive, but suddenly it detonated,” he said, causing “severe wounds to both my legs, which led to the amputation of one of them.”
He was one of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians returning home during a truce that brought short-lived calm to Gaza after more than 15 months of war, before Israel resumed its bombardment and military operations last month.
For Azzam and other children, the return was marred by the dangers of leftover explosives.

Children are most vulnerable
Demining expert Orr, who was in Gaza for charity Handicap International, said that while no one is safe from the threat posed by unexploded munitions, children are especially vulnerable.
Some ordnance is like “gold to look at, so they’re quite attractive to kids,” he said.
“You pick that up and that detonates. That’s you and your family gone, and the rest of your building.”
Another common scenario involved people back from displacement, said Orr, giving an example of “a father of a family who’s moved back to his home to reclaim his life, and finds that there’s UXO in his garden.”
“So he tries to help himself and help his family by moving the UXO, and there’s an accident.”
With fighting ongoing and humanitarian access limited, little data is available, but in January the UN Mine Action Service said that “between five and 10 percent” of weapons fired into Gaza failed to detonate.
It could take 14 years to make the coastal territory safe from unexploded bombs, the UN agency said.
Alexandra Saieh, head of advocacy for Save The Children, said unexploded ordnance is a common sight in the Gaza Strip, where her charity operates.
“When our teams go on field they see UXOs all the time. Gaza is littered with them,” she said.

Catastrophic situation
For children who lose limbs from blasts, “the situation is catastrophic,” said Saieh, because “child amputees require specialized long-term care... that’s just not available in Gaza.”
In early March, just before the ceasefire collapsed, Israel blocked all aid from entering Gaza. That included prosthetics that could have helped avoid long-term mobility loss, Saieh said.
Unexploded ordnance comes in various forms, Orr said. In Gaza’s north, where ground battles raged for months, there are things like “mortars, grenades, and a lot of bullets.”
In Rafah, where air strikes were more intense than ground combat, “it’s artillery projectiles, it’s airdrop projectiles,” which can often weigh dozens of kilograms, he added.
Orr said he was unable to obtain permission to conduct bomb disposal in Gaza, as Israeli aerial surveillance could have mistaken him for a militant attempting to repurpose unexploded ordnance into weapons.
He also said that while awareness-raising could help Gazans manage the threat, the message doesn’t always travel fast enough.
“People see each other moving it and think, ‘Oh, they’ve done it, I can get away with it,’” Orr said, warning that it was difficult for a layperson to know which bombs might still explode, insisting it was not worth the risk.
“You’re just playing against the odds, it’s a numbers game.”


Libya ‘crackdown’ forces aid groups to cease operations: diplomats

Members of a military unit deployed in the western city of Zawiya on May 14, 2023, following clashes between armed groups. (AFP)
Updated 03 April 2025
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Libya ‘crackdown’ forces aid groups to cease operations: diplomats

  • Libya has struggled to recover from the chaos that followed the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that overthrew longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi

TUNIS: Diplomats in Libya have said in a letter to authorities seen by AFP that several international humanitarian organizations were forced to suspend operations after threats by security services and forced resignations.
In the letter, which was obtained by AFP on Wednesday, 17 mainly European ambassadors and a UN official accuse the Internal Security Agency (ISA) of an “ongoing crackdown” on non-governmental groups and humanitarian aid workers.
In war-torn Libya split between two rival administrations, the ISA reports to the interior ministry in the capital Tripoli, seat of the UN-recognized government.
“Between March 13 and 27, the ISA summoned at least 18 staff members from six international NGOs for questioning,” said the letter addressed to the Tripoli-based foreign ministry.
ISA agents “seized some of their passports,” forced them to “resign from their positions” and pledge in writing never to work for an international NGO again, the letter added.
It also said the security service “sealed some of their offices.”
Beyond the six groups directly affected, the diplomats said that “many other organizations are suspending activities as a matter of precaution.”
AFP was not able to independently verify the claims made in the letter, dated March 27.
The authorities in Tripoli did not immediately comment on the matter, but announced a press conference later on Wednesday to address “the work of international NGOs.”
Libya has struggled to recover from the chaos that followed the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that overthrew longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
It remains split between the UN-recognized government in Tripoli and a rival authority in the east, backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
The diplomats’ letter does not name the organizations affected by the ISA’s alleged measures, but a source familiar with the issue said on condition of anonymity that they include the International Rescue Committee, the International Medical Corps and the Danish Refugee Council.
Contacted by AFP, the Danish Refugee Council said it “could not comment” on the matter. There was no immediate comment from the other groups.
The source said that some foreign NGO staff members had been ordered to leave Libya, while others had been barred from returning after recent trips abroad.
The source mentioned that the authorities had already imposed visa restrictions on foreign humanitarian workers between July 2022 and December 2023, but operations had continued using local staff or individuals who did not require visas.
In their letter, the diplomats from the European Union, France, Britain and other countries as well as a top UN humanitarian representative voiced concern about the impact of the measures.
The crackdown including detention and questioning of staff members has had a “particularly alarming” effect “on the provision of humanitarian primary health assistance,” the letter said.
It urged authorities to allow the NGOs to “reopen their offices and safely restart humanitarian operations as soon as possible.”
It also demanded that seized passports be returned to staff members, and “any resignation letters or pledges signed at the ISA office” invalidated.

 


Will US pressure on Iraq succeed in bringing Iran-backed militias to heel?

Updated 03 April 2025
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Will US pressure on Iraq succeed in bringing Iran-backed militias to heel?

  • The Popular Mobilization Forces are formally part of Iraq’s state security apparatus, but include powerful militias loyal to Iran’s IRGC
  • A long-debated Iraqi law aims to regulate the PMF, but critics argue it will do little to curb their ties to Iran or ease American pressure

LONDON: It was a message that was both unequivocal and uncompromising. Iraq must rein in the sprawling network of militia groups that take their orders from Iran, and if they threaten American interests in the country, the US will respond.

The comments were delivered last week by Tammy Bruce, the US State Department spokesperson, in response to a question on a new law being wrangled over in Iraq about the future of the Popular Mobilization Forces.

A military parade held by Iraq's army, Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Forces), and the Police force, drives down a highway during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the defeat of the Daesh group, in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on December 10, 2024. (AFP)/File)

The PMF, an umbrella group for dozens of militias in Iraq, includes many that take their money and orders from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, despite belonging to Iraq’s formal state security apparatus.

Along with Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Hamas in Gaza, they are considered part of Iran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance” — a network of proxy militias throughout the Middle East loyal to the IRGC.

America’s renewed military campaign against the Houthis, along with the degradation of Hamas and Hezbollah by Israel and the fall of Iranian ally Bashar Assad in Syria, has placed increased focus on Iraq’s Iran-backed militias.

They remain the only major Iranian proxy in the region to avoid significant Israeli or US military action since the Gaza conflict began in October 2023.

Doubts have been cast over whether the long-proposed Iraqi law to assert greater central government control over the militias would have much of an effect — or sufficiently appease US concerns.

But domestic events in Iraq, along with US President Donald Trump’s renewal of the “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran to suspend its nuclear program, place the PMF increasingly in the firing line.

There is a lot of pressure from the Trump administration on the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani to rein in the Iran-backed militias, Renad Mansour, a senior Iraq research fellow at Chatham House, told Arab News. “Especially to stop any kind of attacks on American citizens or interests in Iraq.”

Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani speaks during an event commemorating the 21st anniversary of the creation of "Asaib Ahl al-Haq", one of the member factions of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitaries, in Baghdad on May 3, 2024. (AFP)

Mansour said the policy stemmed from renewed US efforts to combat Iranian influence in the region. “It’s very clear that the Trump administration is looking at Iraq as an important vehicle where Iran maintains economic and other types of authority,” he said.

The PMF, known in Arabic as Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi, was created in 2014 in response to a fatwa issued by the country’s top Shiite religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, after the extremist group Daesh seized swathes of territory.

The sprawling network of armed groups included many armed and funded by Iran. Many came from existing militias mobilized by the IRGC’s extraterritorial Quds Force.

Members of Al-Hashd al-Shaabi faction walk near the frontline on October 21, 2016, near the village of Tall al-Tibah, some 30 kilometrers south of Mosul, during an operation to retake the main hub city from the Daesh group jihadists. (AFP)

The PMF comprised approximately 70 predominantly Shiite armed groups made up of around 250,000 fighters. They played a major role in the defeat of Daesh in Iraq alongside the Iraqi Security Forces, Kurdish Peshmerga, and the US-led coalition.

After the extremist group was territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 and attention turned to its holdouts in Syria, questions began to be raised over the purpose of the PMF.

A flimsy Iraqi law in 2016 attempted to exert more state control over the militias and included some basic details about their structure and employment terms.

IN NUMBERS

• 250k Fighters the PMF claims to have under arms.

• $3.3 billion Iraqi state funding at the PMF’s disposal.

Meanwhile, the PMF developed political wings that contested elections. These party blocs were accused by political rivals and Western governments of causing instability and acting in Iran’s interest.

The militias suffered a major blow in January 2020 when the first Trump administration killed PMF chief Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis alongside Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike near Baghdad airport.

Later that year, Al-Sistani, who had given the PMF its religious legitimacy when it was originally formed, withdrew his own factions as concerns over Iranian influence grew.

Iraqis participate in a candle light vigil marking the fourth anniversary of the killing of top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, near Baghdad's International Airport on January 2, 2024. (AFP/File)

Yet the PMF managed to rebound from these setbacks, increasing both its funding and armory, including Iranian drones and missiles.

It has also been at the center of domestic turmoil, with its factions accused of an assassination attempt on then-Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi in November 2021 and militias clashing with supporters of cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr in 2022.

After the Gaza war began in October 2023, the militias launched drones and missiles at Israel and carried out dozens of attacks on US bases in Iraq, where some 2,500 troops remain as part of the coalition mission against Daesh.

In February last year, the Biden administration bombed 85 militia targets in Iraq and Syria after three US soldiers were killed in a drone attack on a Jordanian outpost known as Tower 22. 

Maxar satellite imagery of Tower 22 which houses a small number of US.Troops in northern Jordan.  (Satellite image (c) 2024 Maxar Technologies/via AFP)

The US said senior commanders from the Kataib Hezbollah militia were among those killed. Since then, Iran has urged its militias in Iraq to refrain from attacking US interests.

“The Iraqi militias’ harassment of US targets in Iraq ended when the Biden administration took out three top commanders from the Kataib Hezbollah,” Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Arab News.

“This signaled to militia leaders that their safety became at risk and their attacks stopped.”

The second Trump administration made clear in February when it issued the National Security Presidential Memorandum that Iraq’s militias would be central to renewed pressure on Iraq to reduce economic ties to Iran.

The other front is for Iraq to reduce dollar transactions with Tehran, particularly through cutting purchases of energy.

Demonstrators,one with a portrait of Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi, shout slogans during a march in solidarity with the people of Gaza in the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa on January 5, 2024. (AFP)

But there is also the wider geopolitical pressure on the militias as a result of US and Israeli attacks on Iran’s other proxies in the region, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.

“The Iraq militias became the last resort for all other Iranian militias across the region,” said Abdul-Hussain. “Since Israel crushed Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, the pro-Iran militia weight has shifted to Iraq.”

On the economic pressure now being exerted on Iran, he said the US is aware that the IRGC is siphoning US dollars from Iraq’s oil revenues, mainly using the $3.3 billion budget allocated to the PMF.

In response to this renewed pressure, the PMF Service and Retirement Law was introduced to the Iraqi parliament last week after months of wrangling over its contents.

A ship fires missiles at an undisclosed location in Yemen after US President Donald Trump launched military strikes against the Iran-aligned Houthis on March 15, 2025. (US Central Command/Handout via REUTERS)

The bill aims to fully integrate the PMF into Iraq’s state security forces. However, critics say it has been hijacked by rival Shiite blocs jostling for advantage within the organization. 

In its current form, the bill is unlikely to fill the US with confidence that the PMF will fully submit to central government control and renounce fealty to Iran. Abdul-Hussain described the bill as a “total smoke screen.”

He said: “Parliament is trying to enshrine PMF perks by law for fear that the next executive chief might not be Iran-friendly and could thus cut the $3.3 billion with a decree. Laws trump decrees, and that’s why the Iraqi parliament is racing to enshrine PMF funding in a law.

“The irony is that the same law does not demand that the organization follow a military order or be included under the military’s rank or supervision. They want to take the money but keep the hierarchy in the hands of the IRGC.”