Are we on the verge of a Venezuelan missile crisis?

December 10, 2010 Sorin Adam Matei

: Image via Wikipedia

Worrying news, via Die Welt, from Venezuela. Copying a page from the book of his mentor, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez closes ranks with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards by allowing an Iranian manned missile base in South America. It is possible that this is some sort of insurance against any possible US attack against Iran and might seal the fate, one way or another, of the Iranian nuclear program. The US is now forced either to act against this move pre-emptively, or to accept the Iranian nuclear program. Which one will it be?

Iran is planning to place medium-range missiles on Venezuelan soil, based on western information sources[1], according to an article in the German daily, Die Welt, of November 25, 2010. According to the article, an agreement between the two countries was signed during the last visit o Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Tehran on October19, 2010. The previously undisclosed contract provides for the establishment of a jointly operated military base in Venezuela, and the joint development of ground-to-ground missiles.

At a moment when NATO members found an agreement, in the recent Lisbon summit (19-20 November 2010), to develop a Missile Defence capability to protect NATO’s populations and territories in Europe against ballistic missile attacks from the East (namely, Iran), Iran’s counter-move consists in establishing a strategic base in the South American continent – in the United States’s soft underbelly.

According to Die Welt, Venezuela has agreed to allow Iran to establish a military base manned by Iranian missile officers, soldiers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Venezuelan missile officers. In addition, Iran has given permission for the missiles to be used in case of an “emergency”. In return, the agreement states that Venezuela can use these facilities for “national needs” – radically increasing the threat to neighbors like Colombia. The German daily claims that according to the agreement, Iranian Shahab 3 (range 1300-1500 km), Scud-B (285-330 km) and Scud-C (300, 500 and 700 km) will be deployed in the proposed base. It says that Iran also pledged to help Venezuela in rocket technology expertise, including intensive training of officers

via Iran Placing Medium-Range Missiles in Venezuela; Can Reach the U.S. :: Hudson New York.