Growing
strategic cooperation: Iran President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad
and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
Die Welt, Germany
Venezuela Missile
Base to Offer Iran Capacity to Strike 'Enemies'
"According
to the secret agreement between the two countries, Venezuela has pledged to
Iran that it will be able to strike its enemies from the joint missile base. …
On the other hand, the joint missile base, to be built with Iranian know-how,
will allow Venezuela to threaten neighboring countries like Columbia."
FARC terrorists aren't the
only rogues with whom Chavez is involved. As reported by Die Welt last
November, Chavez concluded a secret strategic agreement with
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on October 19, 2010, which provides for
the construction of an Iranian-Venezuela missile base on Venezuelan soil.
Included in the agreement was
joint development of a medium-range missile. Through Western security sources, Die
Welt has learned that the missile base is beginning to take shape. Both
sides have now agreed on a location for the base and have entered the planning
phase.
The base will be built on the
Paraguaná
Peninsula [map below], roughly 75 miles from the Colombian border. A small
group of senior Iranian engineers from Khatam al-Anbia, an
engineering firm controlled by the Revolutionary
Guard, has already inspected the site.
The secret visit in early
February was approved by the commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps Air
Force, Amir al-Hadschisadeh, who coordinated the visit with his Venezuelan counterparts.
The Iranian delegation visited to
help develop an infrastructure to protect against air attack. Also planned is the
construction of a command and control station, residential areas, watchtowers,
and bunkers, in which warheads, missile fuel and other items can be stored. In
cooperation with its Venezuelan partners, Iran also intends to build missile
silos at a depth of about 61 ft.
Iranian Experts Deliver Missile Base Plans
Such missile silos are not
easy to design. For example, provision must be made for the emission of missile
exhaust fumes, and the silos must also be equipped with an exhaust system for
fuel delivery.
In addition, there are plans
for precautionary measures being put in place against possible air attack.
Intelligence sources report that the designs of the missile silos were
developed in cooperation with experts from the chemical engineering departments
of the Polytechnic
and Sharif
Universities in Teheran.
In response to requests from
the Khatam al-Anbia construction company, engineers have already proposed ways
for how the plant might be built, for instance, in order to provide for the
discharge of toxic fumes. These are necessary precautions, since no chimneys or
large ventilation shafts can be built if the plant’s precise location is to
remain secret.
Information gathered by Die
Welt also suggests that on their visit to Venezuela, members of the Iranian
delegation carried cash in their luggage for the project’s initial funding. Western
security circles suspect that this involved tens of millions of dollars
siphoned off from Iran’s burgeoning oil profits.
Iran Boosts Strategic Position By Way of Venezuela
According to the secret
agreement between the two countries, Venezuela has pledged to Iran that it will
be able to strike its enemies from the joint missile base. In other words, Iran
is attempting to boost its strategic threat with respect to the United States,
similar to the strategy the Soviet Union followed in Cuba during the 1960s.
On the other hand, the joint
medium-range missile base, to be built with Iranian know-how, will allow Venezuela
to threaten neighboring countries like Colombia.
Meanwhile, Iran is moving
forward with its nuclear program and has begun operation of its nuclear reactor
in Bushehr.
According to reports from the Russian engineering firm involved in operations,
nuclear fission has begun. On Sunday, the Russian construction firm Atomstroyexport reported
that the reactor was started up at a “minimal controlled energy level." Extensive
safety tests are next on the agenda.
Power Struggle Between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei
At the moment in Tehran,
however, hovering above all else is the ongoing power struggle between President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, which has taken some bizarre
turns.
For instance, Ahmadinejad was
absent from all cabinet meetings for ten days, after which, last Sunday, he
returned to work. The boycott was a protest against a decision made by Khamenei,
the country's religious leader, to reinstate Heydar Moslehi, the intelligence
minister that Ahmadinejad had dismissed.
This is a strong sign that a
struggle for the country's future is emerging. While the clergy is interested
in securing its influence, Ahmadinejad apparently wants to lead the country in
the direction of a nationalistic military dictatorship that relies on the power
of the Revolutionary Guard.
Even Ahmadinejad's Mentor Opposes Him
This has moved even
reactionary cleric Mesbah
Yazdi, previously considered to be Ahmadinejad’s mentor, to oppose him. “The restoration
of anti-clerical thinking could represent the next great sedition in this
country,” said Yazdi, alluding to the Green Revolution that shook the country
in the aftermath of rigged elections in June 2009.
Other conservative clerics
have even placed Ahmadinejad alongside other “enemies of Iran,” a category that
is generally reserved for Israel and the United States. In recent years, the
Revolutionary Guard has expanded its political and especially economic power considerably.
Now the clergy is pulling the emergency brake.
Ahmadinejad is being accused
of surrounding himself with sorcerers and wizards. It is rumored that a total
of 25 people close to Ahmadinejad have been arrested. Several Web sites
ascribed to Ahmadinejad's followers have been blocked.In particular, criticism is focused on close
confidant and chief-of-staff to the president, Esfandiar Rahim
Mashaei, who was apparently being groomed by Ahmadinejad to be his
successor.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
In the past, Maschaie
had said that he doesn't need anyone to interpret Islamic texts like the
Quran for him, and that he can do it for himself. This was regarded by the
religious establishment as a threat to its role in Iranian politics. Conservative
Majlis members have already
threatened to force the president from office.
During the 2009 post-election
riots, Khamenei was still fully supportive of Ahmadinejad. Now he appears to
consider him just as much a threat to Iranian theocracy as the demonstrators did
in 2009.
