140: Chapter 137 Holmium Ore

On the return flight, Karimi sat next to Reza. After waiting for half an hour, he finally spoke: "About the holmium ore, you didn't tell me before."

"I only speak of things when they are needed," Reza said. "If I mention them in advance, the bargaining chip turns into a plan. The more people who know about a plan, the greater the variables."

"But where did you find out about the reserves of that batch of holmium ore?"

"A geological report from before the revolution," Reza said. "In 1977, the Shah's government commissioned a French geological company to conduct a precise survey of national mineral reserves. After the report was written, it was filed in the National Archives. No one has looked at it since the revolution."

Karimi was silent for a moment: "When did you check that report?"

"After the Battle of Al-Faw ended," Reza said. "During that time, I would read some archives every night before going to sleep, looking for things that could be used later."

Outside the window was the Persian Gulf in the night; nothing could be seen in the darkness, only the small lights on the wing flashing.

Reza wrote the results of today's negotiations in his notebook, in three lines:

"Chips, two months, 25% commission."

"Holmium ore, 30 tons, first batch compliant for export."

"Haq, usable, but he is purely profit-driven and has no principles, which means he can switch sides at any time. Use him, but do not rely on him."

Then he closed the notebook, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes for a while.

The chip issue was resolved, and the Persia-4 could enter the formal mass production process.

This was the most important result of the day.

But there was still one thing in his mind that hadn't landed—on Saddam Hussein's side, had the materials passed on by the "Coppersmith" reached Saddam Hussein's desk? Nasser's fate was still unknown.

He was waiting for that news.

Sometimes the hardest part of doing something isn't the action itself, but the time spent waiting for the result. You have already made your move, but the chessboard has not yet responded.

The plane began to descend. Reza opened his eyes, put the notebook into his inner pocket, and prepared for landing.

...

September 28, 1981, Ahvaz.

News of Nasser came faster than Reza had expected.

When Karimi came in with the telegram, Reza was reading the pre-mass production test report for the Persia-4 sent by Fatima. He took the telegram, and after reading the first line, he put down the test report.

The telegram was from Jassim, transmitted through that three-step channel, and consisted of three sentences:

"Nasser, yesterday, suspended. Reason: Unauthorized contact with other theater commanders. Saddam Hussein has ordered him to return to Tikrit to await orders."

Reza read the telegram twice and placed it on the table.

From the moment the "Coppersmith" passed the materials to Saddam Hussein's reaction, it took a total of thirteen days.

This speed indicated two things: First, the materials had indeed reached Saddam Hussein's inner circle and were not intercepted midway; second, Saddam Hussein's reaction to this matter was immediate and without hesitation, which meant that the schedule record had struck a long-standing point of suspicion. It wasn't a new suspicion, but a long-accumulated suspicion ignited by concrete evidence.

"What about Shahwan?" Reza asked. "Was he suspended too?"

"No," Karimi said. "Jassim's news only mentions Nasser. There is no movement regarding Shahwan at the moment."

This was also within expectations. Shahwan was a Tikrit loyalist; Saddam Hussein would not move against him easily. Moreover, that material did not directly point to any problems with Shahwan—the schedule record wrote "Internal Coordination Meeting," and both were present, but it was Nasser who initiated that meeting. This point could already be inferred from Faris's statement.

Saddam Hussein choosing to only deal with Nasser was the move that best served his own interests: killing the chicken to scare the monkey, while keeping Shahwan as a usable pawn.

"After Nasser was suspended, who was given command of the Fifth Corps?" Reza asked.

"I don't know. Jassim doesn't have intelligence on that level."

"Have him check. This matter has a certain priority," Reza said. "Whether Nasser's successor is a hardliner or a moderate will affect our subsequent judgments."

Karimi noted it down, then hesitated: "Regarding the 'Coppersmith,' has the account password been sent?"

"It was sent yesterday," Reza said. "Karimi, rules are rules. He completed the task, so the money should be paid. We will need people like him in the future."

"Understood."

Karimi left. Reza picked up the test report again but couldn't immediately focus on it. He was thinking about the aftermath of the Nasser affair.

A suspended hardliner corps commander, staying in Tikrit—what would he do?

There were three possibilities: First, go completely dormant and wait for a comeback; second, make connections in private and turn his resentment into action; third, lose all hope in Saddam Hussein and become a potential asset to be used.

The third possibility was the least likely. Nasser was a Tikrit native; his identity and interests were tied to that system, and he would not betray it unless absolutely necessary.

The second was the real danger. Someone with seniority and connections in the circle, staying in the countryside with a belly full of resentment, was the most uncontrollable variable.

"Karimi," Reza looked up. Karimi had already left the room. He raised his voice: "Karimi."

A head poked in through the doorway.

"Have Hassan arrange for someone to monitor Nasser's daily movements in Tikrit. It doesn't need to be close surveillance; regular reports will suffice," Reza said. "If he starts frequently contacting people in the military, notify me immediately."

In the afternoon, Fatima came.

She wasn't there to deliver a report. This time she came to talk to Reza directly. Her expression was somewhat serious. She entered, sat down, and got straight to the point.

"About the chips," she said. "Haq said two months, but I re-evaluated the mass production node for the Persia-4 and found a problem."

"What problem?"

"Ground testing of the seeker needs to be completed before the chips arrive," Fatima said. "But I only have three target missiles for testing here. After the three are used up, it will take forty days to produce more target missiles. Forty days happens to coincide with the arrival time of the chips, so mass production must be delayed by at least six weeks."

Reza calculated this timeline.

The deadline for the two-year negotiation period was May 1983. Counting from now, there were about nineteen months left.

If the Persia-4 could be mass-produced smoothly, it would take six months from parts to finished product, and another two to three months for training and drills. By calculation, the time window left for this project was already tight.

Delaying by another six weeks meant consuming the already limited margin.

"The target missile problem," Reza said. "Can we use the old target missiles from the Persia-3?"

"The size is wrong, and the interface specifications for the seeker are incompatible."

"Modify the interface?"

Fatima thought for a moment: "Modifying the interface requires re-machining, which will take about ten days. But after the modification, the flight characteristics of the target missile will change to some extent, and the test data might not be accurate enough—"

"How accurate does it need to be to be useful?" Reza said. "We don't need perfect data; we need sufficient data."

Fatima turned this question over in her mind: "If it's just to verify the basic tracking logic of the seeker, the modified target missiles can be used; but if we want to verify terminal interception accuracy, the errors will be amplified, and the data will not have much reference value."

"Then do the first step first: verify the tracking logic," Reza said. "Verify the accuracy after the chips arrive, and use the real target missiles for the final test. Break down the process; don't wait until everything is ready to start."

Fatima noted it down, her expression relaxing slightly.

"There is one more thing," she said. "We finished dismantling and studying the main parameters of the T-72 Tank engine. We made a discovery that is very important, but a bit troublesome."

"Tell me."

"The improved cooling system that the Soviet Union gave to Iraq—the core is a special heat-dissipating alloy. We analyzed the composition, but we don't have the production capacity for this alloy domestically," Fatima said. "We either need to import raw materials or find a partner with this smelting capability."

Reza thought for a moment, running through the channels at his disposal in his mind.

Haq was an arms procurement channel, not metallurgy. The chips were coming through a Japanese channel; loading too many categories onto the same route would increase risk.

"China," Reza said.