Soviet Nukes in Iran?
Writing about Iran’s Manhattan Project, Caroline Glick notes a report that Russia and Ukraine may have sent nuclear warheads to Iran: The rise of the Islamist axis. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)
On Monday, Russia’s Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported that part of Ukraine’s Soviet-era nuclear arsenal may well have found its way to Iran. With the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Ukrainians agreed to transfer the Soviet nuclear arsenal that remained in Ukraine after its independence to Russia. According to Novaya Gazeta, some 250 nuclear warheads never made it to Russia and are thought to have been sent to Iran instead. The report further noted that the warheads will remain operational until 2010.
Responding to the report, Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, Russia’s deputy defense minister and the chief of General Staff said, “Russia’s General Staff has no information about whether Ukraine has given 250 nuclear warheads to Iran or not.”
It is impossible to assess the accuracy of the report. The Ukrainian government has dismissed its allegations. Russia may well have invented the story to shift media attention away from the growing awareness that Russian support for Teheran, Damascus and Hamas effectively places it in the enemy camp in the US-led war against global jihad.