Earlier today, Iranian officials made two contradictory sets of statements about the blast at the missile base two days ago, which killed 17 IRG soldiers including the “father of the Iranian missile program. Majlis speaker Lariani denied any Israeli involvement in the incident saying it was a “fiction” not even worth wasting time discussing.
An IRG official, while denying Israeli involvement, revealed that the weapon which Brig. Gen. Moghadam was testing, and which caused the explosion, was a new one specifically designed to counter the Israeli threat:
“The incident happened during a research program which could have become a severe punch on [the] Israeli regime’s mouth,” General Hassan Firouzabadi said…
ISNA news agency quoted the general as saying that due to the incident “the program was only temporarily stopped but would resume again soon.”
AFP reported the story with an important difference in nuance:
…The base was being used in the production of “an experimental product” being developed to unleash “a strong fist in the face” of the United States and Israel.
He did not elaborate, but said development of the military product had been delayed by “two weeks” because of the blast.
You tell me: if Lariani is right and Israel had nothing to do with it and it was an accident, why would the IRG feel the need to reveal anything about the nature of the incident or the research that was involved in it? Why would they also pointedly note that the weapon was designed to counter an Israeli-U.S. threat? Also, the Iranians have claimed officially that the explosion occurred when ammunition was being moved at the base. If the testing of a new weapon (“experimental product”) was the actual cause, then this is a flat-out contradiction to the original.
Further, Iranian reports now concede that the number of dead was almost double what was reported originally. There were funerals yesterday for 36 soldiers. This too indicates a desire to conceal the full extent of the damage caused by the event. There might be many reasons they would want to do so, but one might be to conceal from the enemy what was damaged and the extent of the damage caused by the sabotage.
One can speculate on the identity of the “research” in question that might cause Israel grief. Iran is reported to be developing the latest version of the Shehab which, according to some reports, is the Shehab 4. There are also reports that Iran is testing ways of adapting the Shehab so that it can carry a nuclear warhead. Either of those might be candidates for weapons that might’ve been tested and which could’ve caused the disaster.
Both of the Iranian officials you quoted do agree emphatically, however, that Israel had nothing to do with the blast.
Does this carry any weight for you at all?
Bob Mann:
Do you think Iran would admit if Israel was behind the attack? That would have put Iran in a embarrasing position.
They have done similar things in the past.
For example:
Iran: Israel Responsible For Nuclear Scientists Killing
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/20/iran-israel-nuclear-scientists-killing_n_972362.html
Also, from this very blog just a day or so ago:
“Yet another confirmation has surfaced from Iranian sources that Revolutionary Guard Maj. Gen. Hassan Moghadam, the “father” of the nation’s missile program, was killed in an Israeli inspired terror attack.”
You should quote more carefully. An air force commander spoke at his funeral and called him a “martyr”, and said he was “killed”.
Richard and others (BBC and Radio Free Europe’s Iran correspondents) conclude from this that Mek and/or Israel were involved in his killing. Iran didn’t admit anything.
The quote is an exact, verbatim one from this blog. Not sure how one can be any more careful than that.
As the quote indicates, the blog owner views the statement made as being “another confirmation” from an Iranian source.
No no, you are fooling around again. You were replying to the previous post, which said: “Do you think Iran would admit if Israel was behind the attack?”
You then said: “They have done similar things in the past”.
And then you quoted Richard who said that Israel was behind the attack. But you pretended that it was Iran that had admitted this.
Cut it out will you?
Bob Mann:
Of course they have blamed Israel before – rightly, but if you look at this context, they wouldnt gain anything by saying it was Israel, even if it was. Because if they said it was Israel, well then the iranian people and alot of people in the arab world would urge Iran to do a counter-attack, but Iran cannot do that because they dont want war neither do they got the power. Hence the criticism Iran often project against israeli, american policies etc is just that. Rhetoric.
Interesting analysis.
What happens, then, if the information presented in this blog continues to be picked up by other major media outlets.
When sources like Time magazine and The Guardian also strongly suggest that Israel was behind the attack, wouldn’t that lead to the same “urging” from the Iranian people and the Arab world for Iran to take some kind of action in retaliation?
Do you think the Iranian people read or care about what Time Magazine & the Guardian or even this blog say? C’mon.
Bob Mann:
No because Iran doesnt claim that Israel is behind this – and thats whats intresting, it doesnt matter what other parties say about the blast.
And if you look at the situation, I dont see many iranians or arabs calling for war.
Iranian figures have quietly admitted it was, though they’re not current officials representing the govt.
Both of those source are official government representatives hewing to the government line. A former Iranian govt official told the Guardian that it was sabotage & not an accident. I tend to view Iranians who are not official govt flacks as having more credibility.
Thank you for the information. Generally, the press reports are that a sudden, massive event happened that was felt 20 miles away with a large cloud resulting from the evnt. Research around any aricraft involves using fuel. That fuel is highly reactive, especially rocket fuel that produces maximum thrust – hopefully controlled. Fuel systems are very carefully engineered for safety. Depending on the configuration of the actual base, any number of acidents could have let loose sudden reactive forces, such as fuel and artillery shells, one igniting the other, even if stored far apart. There are precedents for such reactons noted from WW II and since. The appeareance is similar, the reaction as immediate. This event may have also been the result of modern integration of computer systems management. A mistake with a plumbing system on a city street can cause pressure problems with municipal flow. We hear the occasional story of manhole covers suddenly thrown into the air. Consider: the same kind of programming error overpressures a fuel line, or mixes fuels, or pollutes fuel with oxygen. What result? Ever hear a clerk at your bank or your telephone company say their “system” was down? The very sad 1986 Space Shuttle failure upon launch was shown by Richard Feynman to be due to the lack of elasticity in a sealing ring on the shuttle’s rocket alignment. Cold weather in FL did it. Feynman proved this by using a piece of the o ring and a glass of ice water at a government commission hearing. His demonstration cost under 5 dollars. The smallest part failure of a complex system can prove to be the critical failure. All military fuels and ordnance are dangerous. All rockets used near a fuel source are dangerous. An industrial accident appears more and more to be the likely cause. Best regards to all readers.
I agree that propellent of some kind would be the most likely thing: high explosives are rarely kept in such large amounts and, in general, are less susceptible to accidents.
It’s not only rocket fuel: torpedo fuels are excellent candidates for disaster, too, and Iran has been investigating high-speed torpedoes for some years and this would make some sense as Israel appears to operate submarines in the Arabrian Gulf and America’s most visible presence there tends to be its aircraft carriers.
However, it can be immensely difficult to determine whether the event was accident or sabotage when your evidence consists of a smoking hole in the ground, many yards across.
After the sinking of the Kursk, Russian media and politicians went through all sorts of theories, mostly revolving around MI6 and sabotage, before it transpired that the most likely cause was contamination of a torpedo fuel line with the wrong sort of welding rod, causing a catalytic reaction. Of course, that could be sabotage, too, of a very sophisticated kind, but it’s now generally accepted that it was just a mistake.
Whether for rockets or torpedoes, moving any sort of highly reactive liquid fuel is a risk, as it can dislodge contaminants and accelerate unwanted reactions. It’s also the obvious point at which to apply any kind of sabotage attack.
If sabotage is suspected, it will be because of some circumstantial evidence rather than conclusive forensic proof, which will be very hard to come by.
Remember that the FBI once prosecuted a US Navy sailor for blowing up a gun turret on a battleship, when technical opinion thought it was probably an accident occasioned by very old (WW2 era) propellant. The subsequent abrupt removal of all the old 16″ gun-armed battleships from service rather than replace the propellant charges, suggests an injustice was done.
The contradictory messages are because most Iranian officials do not know what happened and they may never know. Unless an eye witness account emerges, giving a sequence of events immediately beforehand, we’re guessing.
But the size of the explosion is consistent with a large volume of propellent (fuel) rather than warheads.
Richard,
Speaks volumes that you call the explosion a ‘disaster’. A disaster to whom, Richard? An earthquake or any other event in wich innocent people lose their lives is a ‘disaster’.
Tikun Olam…
And for the record, why are you so obsessed with quoting Iranian officials and then trying to debunk their claims that it was NOT Israel who was involved.
Of course Israel could have been involved, but there is no proof. And your ‘source’ who was right before could be wrong now or feeding you disinformation.
And I know you don’t like Debka as your comment to Jessica proved but its claim that it could have been a drone doesn’t rule out that it was the US, not Israel.
So I suppose it would be wrong to describe the IDF helicopter disaster in Lebanon in which something like 75 soldiers were killed as a “disaster?” Or do disasters only occur to Jews while Arabs & Muslims get what they have coming to them? Is that yr argument?
The U.S. is good at going after targets like the Taliban or Anwar Al Awlaki who don’t have an army, navy & air force to strike back on their behalf. But the U.S. isn’t stupid enough to strike directly at Iran in such an overt fashion. Debka of course WOULD want it known that it was a U.S. act because that would draw the U.S into a war w. Iran, which is precisely what Bibi & Debka are after. Sorry fella, no cigar on this one.
Since when did I claim that disasters only occur to Jews? Your response is bereft of logic. Just suppositions. Similar to your original ‘scoop’.
I did not say that Debka claimed that it was the US. Read what I wrote. And even had Debka claimed tha it was the US, that doesn’t mean that there is an automatic trigger for war.
You can keep your cigar.
Such comments are despicable, Gil, what if an explosion occured in Israel and maybe killed your father? Show some respect. It seems that you have a hate for certain people on a ethnic basis.
Whetever if Israel was behind this or not, why do you try to whitewash israeli involvement? The fact that people often think of Israel when incidents occur is because Israel have a long history of subversion against the whole world. From Norway, to Dubai to America.
Anonymous, you need to brush up on logic, no? The sentence: ‘Whatever (sic) if Israel was behind this or not, why do you try to whitewash Israeli involvement?’ is inherently contradictory.
And the fact that Richard allows such an antisemitic post to remain speaks volumes.
You arent getting nowhere with the antisemitecard nor ad hominem. Reply to my simple question instead.
Oh please. There isn’t a word of anti-Semitism in his comment. Besides, you’re confusing criticism of Israel (not even hostility, but legitimate criticism of policy) with anti-Semitism, an accusation that is the hobgoblin of little hasbarist minds. Yr comment reeks of typical Israeli (though not all Israelis are afflicted w. it thank God) paranoia.
What is it about the Communists and other Far Leftists that they resort to calling into question their opponents’ mental state?
No, actually that crack was the 1st fr anyone on the left. Every other such inane disgusting claim has come fr yr side. And if you accuse anyone here of being a Communist you’ll not only be lying you’ll be out on yr ass. Capiche buddy? Lies are for Debka, not here.
But surely you agree that his/her post was contradictory in the sentence I highlighted, no?
Gil:
Is it hard to even imagine if your father would have been blown up in a similar incident? Obviously, since you ignore the questions and try to fillibuster.
My final point to you before we go too offtopic is that you should try to respect other ethnic groups – iranians, arabs or whoever you have a problem with, are as much valued as anyone else. And cheering death of others just because of their ethnicity…is not a good look.