WarSclerotic

DEBKAfile – Israeli Dolphin subs upgraded for missiles, larger fuel capacity

October 4, 2009, 11:21 AM (GMT+02:00)

Upgraded Dolphin submarine

Western naval sources report that Israel’s German-made Dolphin submarines have been heavily modified: its torpedo tubes enlarged to accommodate missiles, new electronics installed and its fuel capacity expanded to keep the vessel at sea for 50 days without refueling. Eight years after receiving the first three Dolphin subs from Germany and two more last month, naval sources rate them the most modern non-nuclear subs in any world navy.

Israel is reported by foreign sources to have equipped the new Dolphin-class subs with Israel-made 1,500-km range cruise missiles carrying 200 kiloton nuclear warheads and 135-kilometer range US-made Harpoon missiles also fitted with nuclear warheads. These missiles, fired through the newly-enlarged 650mm-26-inch tubes, can reach Iranian coastal targets including its nuclear sites as well as naval, port and Revolutionary Guards facilities.

The Dolphins’ expanded fuel tanks enable them to cover distances of up to 10,000 kilometers from their Mediterranean home port (instead of 8,000 kilometers heretofore) and spend more time – up to 50 days – off the Iranian coast.

DEBKAfile‘s military sources note: Their presence outside Israeli waters is a powerful deterrent to any surprise nuclear or conventional attack, endowing Israel with an instantaneous second-strike nuclear capability.

In June, an Israeli Dolphin passed through the Suez Canal for the first time, escorted by Egyptian Navy vessels, relaying a message to Tehran that Cairo would open the waterway to Israeli warships for a short cut to the Persian Gulf (instead of the long way round the Cape of Good Hope) should the controversy over Iran’s nuclear program get out of hand.

On Sept 30, DEBKAfile reported the delivery of the last two Dolphin-class U212 subs Israel ordered from the German HDW shipyards at Kiel, raising its total submarine fleet to five.

For the full story click HERE.

Unlike the first three, the new U212 Dolphins have a fuel cell based on an air-independent propulsion system which enables them to stay under water for more than a week without surfacing. They are also very quiet and hard for Iranian sea hunters to detect.

DEBKAfile – Tehran accuses US in case of missing Iranian nuclear scientist

October 8, 2009, 6:23 PM (GMT+02:00)

Iran’s foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki charged Wednesday, Oct. 7 that Tehran had “documents that prove US interference” in the disappearance of the nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri during a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia earlier this year. He spoke after attending an Iranian cabinet meeting. Six days after meeting the six powers on its nuclear program in Geneva, Tehran appears to be preparing a new crisis.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly denied having any information “on this individual.” Some Saudi sources claimed the scientist asked the kingdom for political asylum but this was denied by Riyadh.

DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources report that Shahram Amiri was a senior member of Tehran University’s nuclear physics department which is directly involved in work on Iran’s second enrichment facility near Qom. Iranian nuclear scientists are forbidden foreign travel except for pilgrimages to Mecca. Then too they travel with groups and watched over by Iranian security personnel. Their passports are held by the group’s head, usually a Revolutionary Guards officer, as a safety guard against defections.

Shahram Amiri went missing without his passport last May, three days after his party arrived in Mecca. His belongings were left in his hotel room. The Saudi authorities deny knowledge of the case.

Our sources add: The fuss the Iranians are making about the scientist’s disappearance indicates he was an important cog in the hidden compartments of Iran’s nuclear program and had plenty to give away to the wrong parties. They fear his disappearance is a repetition of the case of the missing general Alireza Asgari who dropped out of sight in Istanbul in March 2007. Asgari, who was a deputy minister in charge of Iran’s nuclear relations with Syria, also checked in at a hotel, unpacked in his room and vanished. Tehran has always suspected he headed straight for a flight to the United States and is in Washington to this day.

That Mottaki raised the case six months after Amid’s disappearance is a sign that Iran is building up to a crisis with the big powers, especially the United States. It will no doubt climax on or before Oct. 25 when international inspectors are due to visit the suspect nuclear site near Qom.

DEBKAfile – Tehran moves to impose gasoline rationing ready for showdown with US

The Islamic regime in Tehran plans to slash the supply of subsided gasoline to the public by 45 percent and ration individual purchases to 55 liters per month, down from the 100 allowed at present. This announcement Wednesday, Oct. 8, by Iranian oil minister Massoud Mirkazemi was Tehran’s second step ahead of an expected showdown with the West over its nuclear program.

DEBKAfile‘s Iranian sources report: Accusing the US of involvement in the disappearance of an important Iranian nuclear scientist was the first.

The government will have no difficulty in getting the measure through the tame Majlis (Iranian parliament).

Iran imports 40 percent of its gasoline needs because it is short of oil refineries. This shortage is sustained to boost the revenues of the Revolutionary Guards which owns a monopoly on gasoline imports. It has now become a strategic threat to the regime, curtailing fuel supplies for the military in the event of war and undermining Iran’s ability to withstand severe sanctions.

Rationing may also provoke domestic unrest. Only 4.2 million liters of gasoline a day will be released, instead of the current 8 million. This will free up some 60,000 or so barrels a day for the Revolutionary Guards emergency stores. A much smaller cutback in 2007 caused serious riots in major cities; many gas stations and fuel depots were set on fire.

Earlier this week, Iran’s foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki confronted Washington with a charge of US involvement in the disappearance of a nuclear scientist while on a pilgrimage to Mecca last May.