As North Korea braces itself for another round of international condemnation in the wake of its latest nuclear test, the one country that will be maintaining a discreet silence is Iran.
Unlike Pyongyang’s previous nuclear tests, which are understood to involve the testing of plutonium warheads, the most recent underground explosion was to test a uranium device – the same kind of nuclear weapon that intelligence officials believe the Iranians are working on.
Indeed, Iran’s nuclear weapons programme bears many striking similarities to the research being undertaken in North Korea. The delivery system for Iran’s nuclear device is an advanced form of the Soviet-era Scud missile – just like the North Koreans. And Iranian scientists are working on a project similar to the North Koreans which would enable them to attach a nuclear device comprising enriched uranium to the missiles.
We should not be surprised, though, by the similarities between the two programmes. Both Iran and North Korea have benefited from the expert advice they have received from Dr AQ Khan, the “father” of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb, and teams of nuclear scientists regularly shuttle between Tehran and Pyongyang to share their research material.
And the fact that North Korea has been able to detonate three nuclear devices with relative impunity will only serve to encourage Iran that, when the time comes, it will be able to test a device of its own without any unwelcome interference from the West.
This is a copy of the full article provided by The Telegraph
