8-8-2018
Soo Kim, a former CIA intelligence analyst who specializes in North Korea, said that the Iran visit sent a message to the international community.
The North Koreans were taking a “two-pronged” diplomatic approach by continuing denuclearization negotiations with the U.S. while also pursuing diplomacy and “ally-building” with countries such as Iran.
“It’s a way to keep us on our toes," Soo Kim added. "They’re playing a game with us, they’re giving us hope that things are going to progress but at the same time they’re not really showing us anything concrete.”…
Andrei Lankov, a professor of Korean studies at Kookmin University in Seoul, said that there was "active cooperation of nuclear and missile issues" between Iran and North Korea.
He added that Pyongyang and Tehran "do exchange knowledge, they do probably exchange technology," describing it as "an open secret" that's been going on for many years.
Lankov said North Korea has been selling arms to Iran at least since the mid-1980s, including missiles used by Tehran during the Iran-Iraq War.
He described Iran as a "very profitable partner" for North Korea. Lankov added: "North Koreans tend to make alliances with anti-American radicals of any kind.” https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/north-korea-s-foreign-minister-visits-iran-after-u-s-n898611
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5-13-17 On May 2, 2017, the Iranian military conducted a missile test from a Ghadir-class submarine in the Strait of the Hormuz. Even though the missile test failed, the close similarities between Iran’s Ghadir-class submarine and North Korea’s Yono-class miniature submarine alarmed Western policymakers. Many U.S. defense experts have argued that Iran’s missile test was proof of continued Tehran-Pyongyang military cooperation, despite repeated attempts by the United States to isolate the DPRK regime.
Even though there was considerable optimism that the July 2015 ratification of the Iran nuclear deal would halt Tehran’s long-standing military cooperation with North Korea, Iran’s ballistic missile program continues to rely on North Korean military technology….
While the DPRK’s dire economic situation can explain some dimensions of the Iran-North Korea military partnership, there is compelling evidence that Tehran-Pyongyang ballistic missile technology cooperation is a more mutual exchange than many U.S. policymakers have assumed.
Israeli defense analyst Tal Inbar recently noted that Iran purchased North Korea’s technical know-how on ballistic missile production, upgraded the DPRK missiles’ forward section, and distributed these advancements back to North Korea. The similarities between North Korean missiles launched during recent tests and Iranian technology suggests that Iran is a possible contributor to North Korea’s nuclear buildup, rather than a mere transactional partner….
Iran’s successful utilization of North Korea’s BM-25 Musudan missile system could also profoundly impact the regional balance of power. As the head of the U.S. military in the Pacific, Admiral Harry Harris, recently noted, Washington’s adherence to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty prevents it from developing short- and medium-range missile deterrents to neutralize Iran’s missile developments.
Should Iran resolve the problems that unraveled its July 2016 test of North Korean missile technology and gain a 2,500-mile strike range, Tehran’s ability to militarily challenge Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United States will strengthen considerably. This prospect explains why Iran views its partnership with North Korea as an integral component of its broader strategy to reshape the balance of power in the Middle East.
-Samuel Ramani, a DPhil candidate in International Relations at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford. https://thediplomat.com/2017/05/a-closer-look-at-iran-and-north-koreas-missile-cooperation/
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11-27-17 North Korea has vastly expanded its nuclear and long-range missile capabilities over the past year, developing intercontinental ballistic missiles that could potentially target the western United States with nuclear warheads. Over the same period, U.S. intelligence agencies have spotted Iranian defense officials in Pyongyang, raising the specter that they might share dangerous technological advances with each other. …
In early August, Kim Yong-nam, North Korea's number two political leader and head of its legislature, departed Pyongyang amid great fanfare for an extended visit to Iran. The official reason was to attend the inauguration of President Hassan Rouhani, but the length of the visit raised alarm bells in Washington and allied capitals. North Korean state media said the trip lasted four days, but Iranian state media said it was ten, and that Kim was accompanied by a large delegation of other top officials….
After meeting with Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani on August 4, Kim declared "Iran and North Korea share a mutual enemy [the United States]. We firmly support Iran on its stance that missile development does not need to be authorized by any nation.”… Moreover, Kim Yong-nam's August trip appeared to have official support from Russia and China. On his way to Iran he first flew to Vladivostok….
Last year U.S. authorities reported that missile technicians from one of Iran's most important defense companies, the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, had traveled to North Korea to help develop an eighty-ton rocket booster for ballistic missiles. One of the company's top officials, Sayyed Javad Musavi, has allegedly worked in tandem with the Korea Mining Development Trading Corp. (KOMID), which the United States and UN have sanctioned for being a central player in procuring equipment for Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. For example, Shahid Hemmat has illegally shipped valves, electronics and measuring equipment to KOMID for use in ground testing of space-launch vehicles and liquid-propellant ballistic missiles.
-Jay Solomon, the Segal Distinguished Visiting Fellow at The Washington Institute and author of The Iran Wars https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/high-level-contacts-between-north-korea-and-iran-hint-at-deeper-military-co
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10-14-2015
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5-25-17
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10-18-2015 On Wednesday, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard invited Iranian state TV to tour one of their underground “secret” missile bases. The tour came the day after Iran’s parliament passed a bill approving the country’s nuclear treaty with six world powers.
During the broadcast, the Guard exhibited some of their middle-range as well as long-range missiles. The footage showed long tunnels with ready-to-fire missiles loaded on the backs of trucks. The broadcast also boasted that this was just one of “hundreds of underground missile bases” throughout the country. https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/51488/iran-exhibits-weapons-cache-claims-hundreds-of-underground-missile-bases-in-newest-violation-of-un-resolution-iran-boasts-hundreds-of-secret-missile-bases-middle-east/
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5-2-18 
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