I’ll bet they went through their emergency stash of Fruit of the Looms at the Bushehr nuclear reactor facility in Iran when a local F-4 crashed due to mechanical failure (Haaretz link);
Keshtkar says the pilot and co-pilot ejected from the plane before it crashed but were rushed to the hospital in the city. He didn’t provide other details.
On Friday, Russia said it will begin loading nuclear fuel into the Bushehr reactor, Iran’s first atomic power station on August 21, an irreversible step marking the start-up of the Bushehr plant after nearly 40 years of delays.
As Jimbo writes, time is getting short for Israel to prevent the power plant from becoming a functioning unit. Jittery nerves on both sides.
An F-4???? America’s proof to the world that with enough horsepower even a brick could fly, F-4?
It amazes me that countries can pursue nuclear weapons while the rest of their defense forces are trash. Pakistan comes to mind also.
For some reason I believe that if the Israelis do decide to green light a mission to bomb the facility the Iranians won’t see it coming.
F-4. Are you effin’ kidding me? This is the military that claims to have mass graves dug for US troops and they’re flying around in planes that are better suited as gate guardians outside of air reserve bases and static displays in museums. Aim high, Mahmoud.
The situation is much more complex than the question “to bomb, or not to bomb”. Supposedly the Israelis have plans for a strike and have had them for a while. With that in mind, I’m surprised they haven’t already done the deed, if that were possible. That they are quickly running out of time on the window of opportunity doesn’t make things any less tense. Will they strike? We have about 5 days to find out (they have said the fuel will be loaded this coming Saturday).
I’m betting they won’t hit it. I would think the reasons are fairly obvious, they’re the same reasons we allowed the WMDs to be moved out of Iraq prior to our invasion without firing a shot to stop it, and with barely a whisper of the event making the news. 🙁
Well, in relation to Israel; they have done so, before, back in ’81, just before the Iraqi nuke plant was to come on line, so I’m not discounting that they may actually do it.
I hope you’re right OT, time will tell.
Claymore…”Aim High,Mahmoud” I was really LMAO with that…
Headline on Drudge says Iran plans to “display an array of weapons”…I’ll bet they have a bunch of T-55’s to roll out too…
The problem with Iran is that if this strike happens, they will attempt to scuttle a few ships in the Straits and bottle up shipping. If a strike doesn’t happen, there will be instant instability in the region, because all of Iran’s neighbors will be as skittish as donuts around Rosie O’Donnell. You will see an immediate spike in oil prices, etc. Once the rods are in the reactor, there is no way to put the nuclear genie back in that bottle and there will be a massive power imbalance in the region.
It’s a complex situation.
Old Tanker,
Iran has actually been producing the T72B/BM for themselves since 1991 by contract from Russia. Russia also delivered around 100 finished T72S’s around that same time. In addition to those dinosaurs, the Iranians have supposedly designed and manufactured for themselves the ‘Zulfiqar’. The Zulfiqar is said to look much like the M1 Abrams but be closer mechanically and in capability to the M60 series US tanks. This ‘target of opportunity’ has been in production since 1996. While they aren’t in our league, don’t underestimate them as a ground threat capable of creating mass casualties in a pitched battle.
As for air power? They do have more modern air craft than the F-4, including the ‘Saeqeh’ (rumored to be an advanced F5 variant)that made it’s first flight in May 2004.
. In FACT, it’s pretty common knowledge they aquired some pretty, new, F16s when we invaded Iraq. LOL
Spookiest thing about an air war over Iran right now is the fact that Russia just recently upgraded the Iranian SA missle defense to top of the line goods. While we would still likely rule the skies over Iran, I can’t help but think it would be a little like it was in Nam, with the SA defense being a more than credible threat.
What the Russians are thinking, helping the Iranians, is anyone’s guess. They really should quite drinking their antifreeze.
Two mysterious incidents are reported by debkafile in the run-up to the fueling up of Iran’s first nuclear reactor Saturday, Aug. 21
Tuesday, Aug. 17, an Iranian F4 Phantom fighter jet was claimed by Tehran to have crashed 6 kilometers north of the Bushehr nuclear reactor in southern Iran. debkafile’s military sources report it was shot down by Russian-made TOR-M1 air-missile defense batteries guarding the reactor. A local government official Gholam Reza Keshtkar said the pilot and co-pilot ejected from the plane before it crashed and were rushed to hospital.
The TOR-M1 is designed to intercept planes or missiles coming in at medium or very low altitudes in case of American or Israeli attack.
Our sources ask: How did the Phantom penetrate to a distance of 6 kilometers from the reactor when its skies up to a 20-kilometer radius are a no-fly zone?
Perhaps the Bushehr’s air defense system is slow to pick up intruders – although it is known to have been on high alert since a previous incident on Aug. 1. Or else it may been activated when inquiries to Iranian Air Force command about the jet’s identity and mission failed to elicit a satisfactory reply.
Our Iranian sources report extreme edginess in Tehran ahead of August 21 when the Russian-built Bushehr reactor enters its first operational phase in the presence of high-ranking officials from Moscow.
Tuesday afternoon, after the fighter jet crashed, the foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast warned “any aggression against the Bushehr nuclear plant can provoke serious reactions. Based on international rules, a facility with nuclear fuel cannot be damaged”
All the Bushehr defensive systems have been on the highest alert since a previous incident first revealed on Aug. 6 by DEBKA-Net-Weekly 456:.
On Aug. 1, three unidentified UAVs slammed into the reactor buildings, scaring the townspeople who were sure the plant was under American or Israeli attack.
After the heads of government in Tehran put their heads together to try and identify the drones, without success, the defense ministry emerged with a communiqué reporting that a single drone had crashed on the nuclear reactor’s dome, but insisted it was launched by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to test the alertness of the air defense personnel guarding it and the effectiveness of its anti-air radar system.
According to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s Iranian and intelligence sources, Bushehr citizens were sure they heard three mighty explosions – not one. So the deputy district governor for security affairs, Mohammad Hossein Shenidi, who is responsible for safeguarding Bushehr and its reactors against air or missile attacks, pitched in with a lighter version of the communiqué: A single drone had indeed been fired, he admitted, but it carried no explosives because its only purpose was to simulate a loud bang to check the level of local alertness.
According to our sources, the townspeople were correct: Three drones hit the reactor killing at least five of its staff members.
Tuesday afternoon, another Iranian high-up, defense minister Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, talked to reporters. He declared that the “long range UAV called Karrar would be unveiled on this day” – an apparent reference to the debkafile report of Monday, Aug. 16, that the death of Iran’s drone program head Reza Baruni had buried the program for years go come.
Regarding the delay in Moscow’s delivery of S-300 anti-aircraft missile system, Vahidi declared: “We build whatever we want inside the country… and the production of long-range air defense system in Iran is already on the agenda of the defense ministry.”
Former US envoy to the UN John Bolton Tuesday Aug. 17 repeated his warning that Israel has “eight days” to launch a military strike against Bushehr and stop Tehran from acquiring a functioning atomic plant. Once Russian loads it with fuel on Saturday, it will be too late because any attack would spread radiation and affect Iranian citizens, he said.
In the absence of an Israeli strike, said Bolton, “Iran will achieve something that no other opponent of Israel, no other opponent of the US in the Middle East really has and that is a functioning nuclear reactor.”
Damn it, somebody bomb the Iranian reactor!
If they don’t take better care of their fighters, they may manage to do it themselves! : )