IRANIAN MISSILE NEAR COMPLETION
ISRAEL LINE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 1998

  United States envoy Robert Gallucci held meetings on Tuesday with Defense
Minister Yitzhak Mordechai and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to
coordinate efforts to halt Russia's massive aid to Iran's medium-range
ballistic missile program, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Gallucci has
replaced Frank Wiesner as U.S. President Bill Clinton's special envoy to
Russia on the missile issue.
  U.S. and Israeli experts agree that Iran, with aid from Russian advisers
and companies, is approaching completion of the engine for the Shihab 3
missile and could develop a prototype missile by the end of 1999, Israeli
sources said.  The sources said that once Iran completes the development of
the engine, the missile project is assured of success.
  Israeli intelligence and military sources said their main fear is that any
Iranian missile, regardless of its accuracy, would embolden Teheran's
allies, such as Syria or Islamic fundamentalist groups, to launch an
offensive against Israel.