Is Russia Coming To Its Senses

Two days ago, Iran had a successful launch of a booster that will be used to place a low-orbit satellite into space by early next year. This test launch also inaugurates a newly built space center.

The problem: if you can place a satellite into orbit, you can loft warheads into space.

The White House has said this launch is "troubling development" and would isolate Iran from the global community. Right.

Here is what Ahmadinejad had to say;

"We witness today that Iran has taken its first step in space very firmly, precisely and with awareness," declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as he gave the order for the rocket’s launch.

"The evil and dominant system’s most important instrument is humiliating people and nations by making them think that they are incapable," he said.

The boost system - dubbed the Kavoshgar-1 is probably a variant of the Shahab-3 IRBM which has a range of up to 1600km.

Okay, so what about Russia? Well, the Russians, apparently, are suddenly concerned about the intentions of Tehran. Could that be because a long range missile would put Moscow in Tehran's sights?

This from the BBC;

Russia thinks the launch of an Iranian rocket into space raises suspicion over the true aim of its nuclear programme, a foreign ministry official has said.

"Long-range missiles are one of the components of a [nuclear] weapons system," Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov told Interfax.

Therefore Monday's test launch of Iran's Explorer-1 space rocket was "of course, a cause for concern", he said.
[...]
Correspondents say the statement by Mr Losyukov appeared to indicate that Moscow increasingly shares Western concerns about Tehran's nuclear course.

"It increases suspicion of Iran regarding its possible desire to create a nuclear weapon," he was quoted as saying.
[...]
In the past, Russia has been more sceptical than some Western powers about Iran's missile capability, saying it would take a long time to build long-range missiles.

Russia has been instrumental in arming Iran, providing Iran with nuclear technology, and providing them with political cover over the last few years as we tried to support peaceful efforts to terminate Iran's nuclear programs.

Now that Iran might have the means to hit the heart of Russia, it looks like the Kremlin is waking up to the threat. Let us hope that this new found concern will remain consistent and Russia will firmly move onto our side, at l;east on the issue of Iranian nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

(Sources: BBC, VOA, Defense News, Bloomberg, BBC)