Iran likely has at its disposal the same technology and blueprints that North Korea possesses. Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan has admitted to supplying nuclear technology to North Korea, Iran, and Libya through a black market. His claim has been supported by international investigators, who found that Chinese nuclear designs that were probably supplied to Pakistan in the 1980s were later sold to Libya by Pakistani-led smugglers. Former UN arms inspector David Albright has been quoted as saying, "You have to almost conclude [that the Chinese design] went to Iran and . . . North Korea." Iran thus has blueprints for nuclear weapons technology that has been successful tested by two other countries, Pakistan and North Korea.
If the international community's reaction to the North Korean test is weak, that will further encourage Iran. As former Indian intelligence chief B. Raman stated on this week's installment of the always excellent Global Crisis Watch podcast:
Iran is watching how the international community is going to react to North Korea. . . . So the international community must be prepared for the possibility that North Korea is going to carry out a test and we must tailor our response and we must be ready with a basket of sanctions against North Korea. And the moment that it carries out that test those sanctions must be imposed so the message goes to North Korea as well as Iran. And once we take that first step what are the other options that are available for the international community we can discuss later. But if we defer and if we do not do anything immediately and if we go on discussing more and more with various groups and all, ultimately North Korea, Iran and Pakistan also -- the jihadi elements there -- they are going to get the wrong message, thinking the international community is weak, the international community will not act against them.
Moreover, close cooperation between North Korea and Iran in the past provides additional reason for concern. I previously blogged about a late 2005 Iranian purchase of eighteen disassembled BM-25 missiles from North Korea. Israel's intelligence chief reported that Iran received these missiles in late April of this year. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. Intelligence reports uncovered in mid-2005 "accuse North Korea of secretly helping Iran develop its nuclear program." Reuters reported this August that both countries are cooperating on the development of long-range ballistic missiles. In fact, Iranian delegates were reportedly present when North Korea test-fired seven ballistic missiles in Japan's direction on July 5. North Korean experts are reportedly helping to bolster fortifications at Iranian nuclear facilities "in anticipation of possible preemptive strikes."
This is not a comprehensive account of the two countries' cooperation; even a surface-level examination reveals their ties. When a country successfully tests a nuclear weapon, that changes everything. Here, North Korea's test certainly changes the contours of the global war on terror.
