well i never said iran couldnt RE the missiles or make something based on them. im just doubtful as to whether iran can actually do it in time to pre-empty any US military advantures (which is the whole point in having the missiles in the first place – to form a deterrant).

remember that if washington is to attck iran, it would do so well before it thinks iran might actually have nuclear weapons (for obvious reasons), so this time frame stretches from tommorrow to around 3 years max at.

secondly, i never said that RE and feilding of the KH55s would be mutually exclusive. iran will almost certainly, IMHO, be working to feild the missiles at the same time as they are studying it.

this would make the most sense as it would give iran a strategic precision strike capacity almost immediately, which will be a far better deterrant then ballistic missiles with conventional warheads (or even chemical and biological warheads as a cruise missile makes the agent delivery process much easier and far more efficent).

after all, what’s the point in keeping ready made missiles sitting in warehouses doing nothing when you really need them?