WaPo Gets Iran Missile Story Exactly Backwards

The Washington Post editorial on Iranian missile tests turns their purpose on its head. (photo: Iranian Defense Ministry)

In an editorial about Iran testing a ballistic missile, the Washington Post (12/20/15) warns that there are “clear connections between the missile launches and Tehran’s ambitions to become a nuclear power.” According to the paper’s editorial board, “The only practical military purpose of the missiles the regime is testing is to carry atomic warheads.”
That’s exactly backwards. If Iran had nuclear warheads–which it does not, and there’s no evidence that is trying to build any–the missiles Iran currently has are accurate enough to deliver them; a nuclear bomb doesn’t need to get very close to its target. The point of Tehran’s current missile tests is to develop weapons that are militarily effective with conventional payloads.

As Reuters (10/11/15) reported in October:

Anthony Cordesman, a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, wrote in January that the Emad [missile] would have a range of 1,700 km (1,060 miles), 500 meters (1,650 feet) accuracy and a 750 kg (1,650 pound) payload….
“The Emad represents a major leap in terms of accuracy. It has an advanced guidance and control system in its nose cone,” Israeli missile expert Uzi Rubin said….
Improvements in accuracy could let Iran use its missiles in a wider variety of roles, for example by targeting military bases or economic assets rather than population centers.
The IISS noted in 2010 that poor accuracy meant Iran could use its missiles only as a “political weapon” to target enemy cities since their military utility was “severely limited.”

Israel, the only Mideast country that does have nuclear weapons, has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran. Given that Israel has already bombed Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Tunisia, there’s no need for the Post to attribute “nuclear ambitions” to Iran to explain why it would be interested in developing a credible deterrent to the prospect of an Israeli attack.