Iran ships in key missile ingredient from China - FT

Two Iranian cargo ships, the Golbon and the Jairan, have left China loaded with 1,000 tons of sodium perchlorate, a crucial ingredient for making solid rocket propellant, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

Citing unnamed security officials in two western countries, the FT said this shipment could be used to produce propellant for hundreds of Iranian mid-range missiles.

This amount of sodium perchlorate could produce 960 tons of ammonium perchlorate, which could produce 1,300 tons of propellant,enough to fuel 260 mid-range Iranian missiles such as the KheibarShekan or Haj Qassem, the officials said.

The chemicals are being shipped to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Bandar Abbas, a port in southern Iran, according to the officials.