Thursday, April 12, 2007

The Skies of Iran: Pro-nuke Kites, UFOs, ICBMs, etc.

Most of my recent postings about Iran have involved the incident with the British sailors. It is now time to turn from the nautical to the aeronautical:

IRIB: Kids back N-tech with kite fest
By holding a kite festival in the Isfahan provincial city of Shahreza, students supported the country's nuclear technology on Thursday.

More than 500 primary school students accompanied by their parents, raised their kites in the ceremony, the motto of which was "nuclear energy is our inalienable right."
Pity the article isn't accompanied by a picture.

Fars News: UFO Observed in Western Iran
A radiant Unidentified Flying Object was observed in the sky of the town of Yasouj in western Iran from 20:00 to 20:30 hours local time (16:30 to 17:00 GMT) Wednesday night.

Witnesses told FNA that the object has been observed for more than an half an hour.

Witnesses also said that the UFO which was as big as a ball and with a blue color disappeared after the weather grew cloudy.

Officials declined to comment on the event.

In similar incidents in the last few months, 4 Unidentified Flying Objects were witnessed in separate cases in the same area and almost at the same time.

In one of such cases a UFO crashed in Barrez Mounts in the central province of Kerman.

Officials, then, denied reports that the explosion has been the result of a plane or chopper crash, reminding that all the passing aircrafts have been reported as sound and safe.

They also stated that investigations were underway by police and other relevant authorities in that regard.

While some reports spoke of meteors, governor general of Kohgilouyeh and Boyer Ahmad province said there were no conclusive witnesses in that regard, yet he did not dismiss the possibility that the crash has been caused by a meteor.

Eye-witnesses assured that the explosion has been caused as a result of the crash of a radiant unidentified flying object onto the ground.
Was any wreckage found?
Meantime, an informed source told FNA that the object has been on fire and there has been thick smoke coming out of it prior to the crash, concluding that the object couldn't have been a meteor as meteors do not smoke.

The source also said that the crash has been witnessed by people in several cities, and mentioned that the rendezvous point was located 100 kilometers from the provincial capital city of Kerman.

He said that people in the city of Rafsanjan also reported to have witnessed a similar incident several days before.

Similar crash incidents have been witnessed frequently during the last year all across Iran, and officials believe that the objects could be spy planes or hi-tech espionage devices.
MENL: "Iranian Missiles Can Strike Europe":
Iran has at least 20 missiles that could strike targets in Europe.

A leading U.S. missile analyst said Iran has acquired an arsenal of BM-25 intermediate-range missiles that could strike Europe. Riki Ellison, president of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, said the U.S. missile defense umbrella was insufficient to protect against Iranian missiles.

"Iran has over 20 intermediate-range missiles that can reach continental Europe," Ellison said. "These 20 BM-25 missiles were purchased from North Korea in 2005 and are a variant of the Soviet SS-N-6 submarine-launched ballistic missile. With a range beyond 3,000 kilometers, these missiles pose a direct threat to central Europe."

In late February 2007, Iran launched a sub-orbit missile that traveled 150 kilometers into space. Ellison said this could mark a milestone in Iran's efforts to achieve intercontinental ballistic missile capability.

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