Iran and North Korea To Unite

Iran is reportedly purchasing ballistic missiles from North Korea

It has recently become known that Iran was planning to purchase Taepodong 2 long-range ballistic missiles from North Korea. There are a lot of variants to predict the further development of the situation: either the two countries of the so-called "axis of evil" decided to join their efforts in the face of an unknown danger, or it is the beginning of a new propaganda campaign in the spirit of "Saddam Hussein buys uranium from Africa."

The information about the Iranian intention to purchase missiles from North Korea was originally distributed by the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun, which is close to the ruling liberal and democratic party in Japan. The newspaper wrote, the information had been received from Japanese military sources. It was also reported, components of the missiles would be delivered to Iran and then assembled at a factory near Tehran.

In addition, quoting the Sankei Shimbun, Reuters said, Iran and North Korea were planning to conduct the joint work in the field of the nuclear research. Adequate negotiations, the newspaper said, have been going on for a year already. The final agreement on the issue may be achieved in October of the current year. Korean missile and nuclear technology specialists are likely to leave for Iran too.

The article in the above-mentioned Japanese newspaper appeared right at the time, when it was announced about the six-sided negotiations concerning the N.Korean nuclear program (the negotiations are to start during the coming two months). Alexander Losyukov, deputy Foreign Minister of Russia said, the talks could start already in August. On the other hand, the present Japanese government has been taking a lot of efforts to modernize the national armed forces under the pretext of a danger on the part of North Korea.

One shall assume, the news about the joint work between North Korea and Iran in the field of the nuclear research and missile technologies will not be a great surprise for the USA. Everyone knows that Iran already possesses the ballistic missiles, which have been developed on the base of North Korean technologies. It is not known, though that the information of the Japanese newspaper is true – there is nothing to confirm it yet. Something like that was happening about a year ago, when the propagandistic attack was launched against Iraq.