Iran 'Hiding Nuclear Materials' According To An Iranian Exile

Iran 'hiding nuclear materials'

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2280822005

11/22/2005

Iran has expanded the tunnels it uses to hide a major part of its nuclear weapons programme to a network covering a large area of south-eastern Tehran, an Iranian exile who opposes that nation's Islamic government said.

Alireza Jafarzadeh said the secret construction of missiles extends well beyond Parchin, a military zone 20 miles outside the Iranian capital. Jafarzadeh told reporters in September about the Parchin tunnels.

Jafarzadeh said that on orders of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian defence ministry has taken over an area in eastern and southern regions of Tehran.

Jafarzadeh is credited with having aired Iranian military secrets in the past, but US officials consider some of his assertions to have been inaccurate.

Despite accusations from the US and the European Union, Iran denies any nuclear weapons ambitions, saying its nuclear programme is purely for civilian needs.

It has rejected new inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, and expressed opposition to a proposal by European countries to have reprocessing of Iran's nuclear material done in Russia.

North Korean experts have co-operated with Iran in the design and building of the complex, producing blueprints, for instance, Jafarzadeh said.

A leading Iranian aerospace group, Hemmat Industries, is located in the area and is building three versions of Shahab and Ghadar missiles, he said.

The Shahab 3 has a range of 800 miles to 1,200 miles and Ghadar, still in the production stage, 1,600 miles to 1,875 miles, he said.

Some of the tunnels are located in Kahk Sefid Mountain, he said.

© Copyright Press Association Ltd 2005, All Rights Reserved.

I blogged about this guy in March:

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Meanwhile, over in Iran a new allegation has come out, via an exiled Iranian called Alireza Jafarzadeh. According to Reuters he claims that:

[Iran is] purifying uranium for use in nuclear weapons at a recently-constructed underground facility at a military complex called Parchin.

Now this guy has apparently “reported accurately in the past about hidden atomic facilities in Iran”. Fair enough, but still perhaps we should take a look into who this guy is. Well, in the past he has appeared as an ‘independent analyst’ for FOX News.

Independent? Hmmm… he is in fact the former spokesperson for the National Council of Resistance of Iran (a designated terrorist organisation by the US). There’s an interesting biography of him at Iran-Interlink – although I cannot vouch for the validity of this source.

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