Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In 11 days time there will be an election in Iran. The new President of the United States has quite intelligently, in a sophisticated way, hoped that the democratic process in that country will achieve what might not be achieved by military or other action in terms of Iran’s proliferation of weapons. But on 20 May Iran launched a solid fuel, Sajjil-2 surface-to-surface ballistic missile. With a range of more than 2,000 kilometres, it has the capacity to reach cities of eastern Europe. The production, testing and use of this weapon should raise concerns as the Sajjil-2 is a more sophisticated missile than the Iranians have previously launched. It is a solid fuel missile that can be stored for years, is hard to detect before its launch and, as the Financial Times reported, can be fired in salvos, which makes it harder to intercept and defend.

In the Guardian on 20 May, Mark Fitzpatrick, an analyst with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, spoke of the significance of the Iranians’ development of such a weapon. The article states:

“To be able to build a solid-fuel missile of medium range represents a significant technological breakthrough,” Fitzpatrick said. “It is technically more difficult than a liquid-fuel missile, and militarily more significant because it is not as vulnerable to attack while being fuelled.”

Iran’s development of these ballistic missiles is very worrying, as they have the capability of carrying nuclear warheads with, as I said, a reach as far as eastern Europe. Iran’s launch, coupled with the nuclear test by North Korea, should be a stark reminder to the world of the risks of nuclear proliferation, especially weapons of mass destruction. The comments from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after the launch of the missile point to a path of fear and aggression, as many people have pointed out. He said, talking to the United Nations:

We send them a message: Today the Islamic Republic of Iran is running the show …

The launch came just days after US President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu met in the White House to discuss Iran’s development of nuclear weapons.

The new technology enables the missile to be smaller and therefore harder to intercept. The International Atomic Energy Agency, in a report by its Director-General in February this year, stated that they remained concerned over Iran’s ‘lack of cooperation’ with the agency in regard to the ‘possible military dimensions’ of Iran’s nuclear program. Further, Iran has failed to comply with the provisions of Security Council resolutions 1737 (2006), 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008) and 1835 (2008), calling on Iran to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency and to suspend its proliferation activities without delay.

Let us be under no illusions: Iran will weaponise its nuclear material, and its plans to develop hundreds of missile launchers and 1,000 ballistic missiles constitute one of the most important dangers to the peace of the world.

One of the key elements that make people hope the democratic process in Iran will solve this problem is the nature of the current Islamist regime there. Many Persians are very sophisticated people; I am sure they and their children wish for a happy and decent future, as all of us in different countries of the world do. But this particular regime is led by a group of people known as Twelvers, who believe in the imminent coming of the hidden imam and believe that by their activities they can hasten the coming of the hidden imam, also known as the Mahdi. Their ideology is one which I think it is impertinent for us to believe they do not take seriously. They mean what they say: they are going to develop nuclear weapons. They have shown they have the capacity to develop long-range ballistic missiles, and I am afraid that, in a worst-case scenario, they may have the intention to use them.

This is not an issue for any one country; it is an issue for all countries in that part of the world. All countries like Australia, through the United Nations, must do everything we can to prevent a military confrontation there and the acquisition by this very hardline regime, with its very special ideology, of weapons of mass destruction such as ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. The nuclear weapons program of Iran must be subject to the International Atomic Energy Agency. I call on all countries of the world to join Australia in that effort.