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US Defence Secretary Says Iran Test No Surprise
US Defence Secretary William Cohen said on Monday Iran's test of a medium-range missile was no surprise and only confirmed it aimed to develop longer-range missiles -- a factor playing a role in the proposed US missile defence system.
Iran said on last Saturday it had successfully tested the Shahab-3 missile, which is modelled mainly on North Korea's Nodong-1 and improved with Russian technology.
"This does not come as a surprise," Cohen, wrapping up a two-day visit to Australia, said at a press conference with Australian Defence Minister John Moore.
"I have pointed to Iran and the testing of the Shahab-3 and what I assume will be the testing of the 4 in the future and beyond that, as one of the reasons why it is important for the United States to undertake to research, develop and potentially deploy an NMD (national missile defence) system that would provide protection against countries such as Iran posing a threat to the United States," he said.
Cohen is expected to make a recommendation on the anti-missile system next month to President Clinton, who will decide later this year whether to proceed. Two of three tests of the system's ability to detect and destroy a missile in space have failed.
Russia and China have adamantly opposed the system, saying it would break longstanding arms control agreements and could lead to a renewed arms race, which is of concern to some US allies in Europe.
The timetable for building a US missile shield has been tied to intelligence estimates that North Korea could have a missile capable of reaching US soil by 2005. Iran and Iraq have also been cited as trying to develop long-range missiles.
Iran's test of a missile with a range of 1,300 km (800 miles), capable of hitting Israel, led to some speculation it was an attempt to damage Middle East peace talks being held near Washington. Cohen said he did not know what the motives were.
"This represents a continuation of their testing programme, whether it was scheduled to coincide with the discussions in Washington is a matter only the Iranians can determine, we don't have any information pertaining to that," Cohen said.
"We accept it for what it is, we know that they will continue to test it, they will continue to develop a longer-range missile capability and that is one of the reasons why we believe it is important that the United States continue its research and testing and the development programme for the NMD, precisely to deal with countries such as North Korea, Iran, Iraq and others," he said.
Asked whether Iran's test would tilt his recommendation toward moving forward with the NMD, Cohen replied: "It doesn't change anything, we have discussed this in the past, we believe that North Korea, Iran, potentially Iraq in the future and others will develop long-range missile capability."
"This is what we anticipate, this confirms our anticipation, and so this is a factor that will have to be taken into account in terms of what the time frame will be when Iran will have the capability of striking US territory or that of European nations," he said.
If the United States proceeded with the defence system, Australia would play a role in warning about missile launches from this region, Cohen said.
Australia's Pine Gap satellite relay station in Alice Springs can collect information from the Southern Hemisphere and send it to the United States, a US official said.
"Obviously Australia has played an important role in terms of its early-warning capabilities and I would expect that should a decision be made to go forward at some point, that Australia would continue to play an important role in shared early warning," Cohen said.
Separately, Cohen and Moore on Monday signed a "statement of principles" aimed at improving the sharing of sensitive technology and making it easier to export it to Australia.
"That gives us very great access to technology," Moore said of the agreement. "It is something which we have been seeking for some considerable time, particularly as it relates to the submarines in Australia," he said.
The agreement would help in making Australia's six Collins attack submarines become fully operational, Moore said.
The United States has been helping Australia with the combat system on those submarines and with making them quieter, a US official said.
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