Iran Denies Getting Missile Technology from NKorea

Foreign Ministry Ramin Mehmanparast

Iran on Tuesday denied a U.N. panel report saying that North Korea and Iran appear to have been regularly exchanging ballistic missiles, components and technology in violation of U.N. sanctions.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast argued that Iran’s own missile capabilities are so advanced that it doesn’t need outside help, and he slammed the report’s findings as “fabrications.”

‘Die Welt’: Iran Building Rocket Bases in Venezuela

Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

The Iranian government is moving forward with the construction of rocket launch bases in Venezuela, the German daily Die Welt wrote in its Thursday edition.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is Teheran’s most important South American ally.

Iran is building intermediate- range missile launch pads on the Paraguaná Peninsula, and engineers from a construction firm – Khatam al-Anbia – owned by the Revolutionary Guards visited Paraguaná in February. Amir al-Hadschisadeh, the head of the Guard’s Air Force, participated in the visit, according to the report. Die Welt cited information from “Western security insiders.”

Senators Press Pentagon on Russo-Iran Missile Work

Four US senators frequently critical of the White House on national security issues pressed the Pentagon to say whether Russian entities were helping Iran develop ballistic missiles.

Republican Senators Jon Kyl, Mark Kirk, John Barrasso, and Jim DeMint also asked for access to draft documents in Russo-US talks on the deployment of a proposed US missile defense shield in Europe.

“We renew our request for any draft materials you are discussing with the Russians,” including a draft Missile Defense Cooperation Agreement (MDCA) and Defense Technology Cooperation Agreement (DTCA), they said.