ENN 7/15/96 16:36

Admiral Says Iran is Importing Chinese Anti-Ship Missiles
By: Steve Macko, ENN Editor

BAHRAIN (ENN) - The outgoing U.S. Navy Commander of the U.S. Firth Fleet and of U.S. Naval Forces, Central Command said on Monday that in the past two years the rogue state of Iran has tripled the numbers of missiles deployed on its Gulf coast and is placing Chinese-built cruise missiles on up to twenty of its naval boats. Vice Admiral John Scott Redd said that Iran's acquistion of Chinese radar guided C-802 anti-ship missiles was a "new dimension" as a regional naval threat.

The admiral, who is ending his present assingment on Wednesday and is returning to Washington, said that Iran and Iraq continue to be the greatest security threat in the oil-rich Gulf region. He said that there were no threat indications against U.S naval forces after the 25 June 1996 terrorist bombing near Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Though the admiral did say that the Navy had taken "prudent security measures."

Redd explained, "Iraq is the major land threat in the region ... because it still has the most capable and largest ground force in the region, while Iran is more of a naval threat." He said that the outlaw nation of Iran is expected to soon have up to twenty patrol boats armed with the Chinese anti-ship cruise missiles.

Currently, Iran also has two Russian-built Kilo submarines. Redd said that another submarine is expected to be delivered to the Iranians sometime this year.

The admiral warned, "There has been a tripling of shore-based missiles both that shoot at ships and those that are surface-to-air missiles. The number they have deployed on the Gulf coast and in the Strait of Hormuz roughly tripled. The newest dimension is that they have Chinese-built C-802 missiles against ships ... the Houdong patrol craft they got from China came fitted to fire the C-802s and they have now received ten of them. Some arrived in the last couple of months. They are also taking some of the other patrol craft and modifying them to carry the missiles and that work is in progress. We could be looking at twenty or more patrol ships at sea capable of carrying those surface-to-surface missiles."

There has been growing concern at the Pentagon about Iran's growing military capability and its aims in the Gulf region. Admiral Redd said that U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region were more than capable of dealing with any Iranian military threat.

Currently, the Fifth Fleet has about 34 U.S. Navy vessels in the Gulf region. This includes an aircraft carrier group, crusiers, destroyers, frigates and submarines. Most of the ships are deployed in the Persian Gulf itself.

(c) EmergencyNet News Service, 1996, All Rights Reserved.

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