Iran is resuming missile production after Israeli attacks on key factories last year, according to the arrival from China of the first of two ships carrying a key fuel component for Iranʼs military missile program.
This is reported by CNN.
According to European intelligence sources, the Golbon vessel left the Chinese port of Taikang three weeks ago, loaded with most of a thousand-ton shipment of sodium perchlorate, the main precursor in the production of solid fuel used in Iranʼs medium-range conventional missiles.
Sodium perchlorate can produce enough fuel for nearly 260 solid-fuel rocket motors for Iranʼs Kheibar Shekan missiles or 200 Haj Qasem ballistic missiles.
The delivery comes at a time when Iran has suffered a series of regional setbacks due to the collective defeat of its allies: the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the defeat of Hezbollah in Lebanon. After Israel struck Iranian missile factories in October, some Western experts believed it would be at least a year before Iran could resume solid fuel production. The delivery suggests that Iran is close to returning to missile production, or that it may already be doing so.
According to sources, this batch was purchased on behalf of the procurement department of the Self-Sufficient Jihad Organization (SSJO), which is part of the Iranian body responsible for the development of Iranian ballistic missiles.
The second vessel, the Jairan, has not yet been loaded and has not left China. Both vessels are operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), sources told CNN. The Jairan is scheduled to transport the remaining 1,000 tons of the chemical to Iran. The Golbon left the port of Taiqan in Iran on January 21.
In response to CNNʼs inquiry, Chinaʼs Foreign Ministry said it was "not aware of the specifics of the case in question" and reiterated that it opposed "illegal unilateral sanctions" and "arbitrary slander and accusations that lack evidence".
- Last year, Israel repeatedly struck Iranian military targets. For example, on October 26, Israel conducted Operation Days of Repentance, which targeted several military bases and a command post of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
- And in November, the media reported that Israel had destroyed a secret laboratory in Iran where nuclear research was being conducted.
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