IACSP Member Perspective


Iranian Nuclear Program Aims for Weaponization and the Destruction of Israel

By Dr. Philip Vos Fellman and Patrick R. Eller

The true and unequivocal intention of Iran's nuclear program is the weaponization of its nuclear capacity and the concomitant destruction of the nation of Israel through its terrorist proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas.

The radical, Islamist terrorist organization Hezbollah has updated its affiliation classification from proxy to full partner with the nuclear weapon-seeking Islamic Republic of Iran. Hezbollah's collusion with another radicalized, Islamist terrorist organization, Hamas, has increased dramatically in recent years.

Iran's military special-forces, the Republican Guard Corps, is aggressively engineering and, where possible, purchasing foreign-made ballistic missiles delivery systems including the solid-fueled Sajjid 2. The Sajjid 2 possesses a range that is sufficient to reach Israel and Southern Europe.
What does this mean for the national security of the State of Israel, the region of the Middle East, America's strategic national security interests, and the security of American citizens abroad?
Imminent Threat?

Some advocates of paying less attention to these security concerns argue that Iran is many years away from having the ability to strike Israel, Europe or, ultimately, the U.S. with a long range missile. We disagree, considering Iran's successful space program and its increasing missile range capabilities. At any given time there are approximately 40,000 American citizens working, studying, and living within the current range of Iran's missiles and Hamas' rockets.

Missiles with the longest ranges could be bought at any time and it is not definitively known whether Iran may already have several of them. Iran has proven over decades, and on multiple occasions, that it is not a country which displays transparent protocols with America or its neighbors.

Not much has really changed in the policy and practices of the Islamic Iranian Regime since 1983. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani represents a welcome change from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but his more liberal public stance is still subject to the absolute rule of Supreme Leader Ali Khameini, who has been in power since 1989. Whether Rouhani will be allowed to make genuine, lasting, substantive changes, is debatable given the political matrix in which he must operate and the nature and span of control between Iran and its jihadist proxies.

Historical Indications
On Sunday, October 23, 1983 a radicalized, Islamic terrorist operative from Hezbollah detonated a truck laden with high explosives at the American Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. That day, 241 American Marines were assassinated in their living quarters. The same day, only moments later, 58 French paratroopers were brutally murdered as a second detonation ripped into their sleeping quarters in Beirut.

At this point, the newly organized Hezbollah was still in its infancy. It is not a deeply guarded secret that the radical Islamist terrorist organization Hezbollah has been primarily financed, funded, supplied, and supported by the Iranian regime since the time of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and through the regime of Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Hosseini Khameini.
The most recent president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad publicly stated on numerous occasions that his goal was to wipe Israel off the map. Continuing into 2013, the rhetoric espoused by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Iran's continued evasion and deception concerning its nuclear program leaves Iran as a credible contender not just for nuclear capability, but for nuclear weapons use.

Born out of the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1987, the radical, Islamist, terrorist organization Hamas operates according to a covenant drafted and accepted by Hamas in 1988. The existence of the Hamas organization serves to establish an Islamic Palestinian State inside the country of Israel. Contained in the Hamas document for operations are 23 articles that specifically call for the demise of the State of Israel.

Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran: America's Greatest Hidden Threat
We documented our analysis of this situation in the book, "Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran: America's Greatest Hidden Threat." The goal of the book is to convince novice and expert readers alike that Iran's nuclear program, facilitated by their relationships with terrorist organizations Hezbollah and Hamas, is a strategic weapons plan for the elimination of Israel as well as a threat to the U.S. presence and interests in the Middle East.

Our book describes actual Islamist, Hamas assassination missions that have been carried out by Hamas' military wing, commonly known in the region as the Qassam Brigades.

The contents of our book illustrate that the (declassified) 2007 United States National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) entitled "Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities," was significantly incorrect and profoundly flawed in its methodology, its substantive analysis and its conclusions. The authors of the report concluded that Islamic Regime of Iran is unable to domestically produce a nuclear weapon. However, our investigation and analysis draws very different conclusions about Iran's continued clandestine pursuit of nuclear weapons capability with respect to both devices and delivery systems.

The book documents Iran's international acquisition program as well as Iran's domestic research and development programs for nuclear weapons components, materials, and technology, including missile delivery systems. There is overwhelming evidence of Iran's desire to destroy Israel through nuclear enabled asymmetric terrorist operations.

It is our aim in this book to inform policy and decision makers of the striking truths and stark realities that are ingrained into the long term political DNA that dictates the operations of Hezbollah and Hamas through their state sponsor, Iran. Sequential justice remains to be served to Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas for their murderous terrorist attacks, and continued targeting of American, Israeli, and Western interests.


About the Authors
Philip Vos Fellman is a graduate of the Yale School of Management and Cornell University. He was a long-time associate of former Director of Central Intelligence William E. Colby and is the author of over 150 publications in approximately eight fields, including intelligence, international business and finance, applied mathematics and quantum physics. Dr. Fellman is a well-known speaker on the subject of modeling terrorist networks and has addressed NATO, the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, The Military Applications Society of INFORMS, The International Association of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the Academy of International Business, The North American Association for Computation in the Social and Organizational Sciences and several International Conferences on Complex Systems.

Patrick R. Eller graduated in 2013 with honors from American Military University with a M.A. degree in Intelligence Studies. Patrick earned a B.A. degree from Valdosta State University in Political Science. He has studied and taught in foreign universities. Patrick participated in Russia Area studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, from the Russian and Eastern European Institute (REEI); and immersion Russian language studies in Indiana University's Summer Workshop in Slavic and Eastern Eurasian Languages (SWSEEL). Patrick is a former US Marine. He is a combat trained infantry machine gunner, and a former US Marine Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team (FAST) member. Based upon Patrick's skills and integrity, he was hand-picked by the Commandant of the Marine Corps to participate in the activation of the new US Naval Submarine Base, Kings Bay Georgia. When not conducting research on asymmetric threats to American national security, Patrick enjoys studying foreign languages and traveling.

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