Opposition Group Claims Iran Secretly Developing 'Major' Nuclear Enrichment Site
The Fox News, September 09, 2010
Alireza Jafarzadeh, Foreign Affairs Analyst and Iran Expert
An Iranian resistance group claimed Thursday that it has
compiled evidence showing Iran has been secretly developing
a nuclear enrichment site for years outside Tehran, a
development one official said proves Iran has a "hidden,
secret nuclear weapons program."
Shown here is a satellite image of an alleged nuclear enrichment site in Iran. (DigitalGlobe/globalsecurity.org)
The Iran Policy Committee hosted a press conference in
Washington, D.C., where research from the Iranian
resistance, known as the Mujahedeen Khalq, was unveiled. The
findings could not be independently confirmed.
The presenters cited evidence, including satellite imagery,
they claimed was compiled after years of extensive research.
They said that the Behjatabad-Abyek enrichment site is
located near the city of Qazvin, about 75 miles outside of
Tehran. The group claimed the regime has spent about $100
million to date on the underground project, which started in
early 2005, and that construction is 85 percent complete.
They said it was being built inside mountains to withstand
bombings.
Alireza Jafarzadeh, president of Strategic Policy
Consulting, said the research shows the Iranian officials
have been "lying through their teeth" in claiming to have
disclosed all nuclear activity to international inspectors.
He said it proves Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons
program, only more secretly than before -- and that the
information has been turned over to the U.S. government.
"While there's still some ambiguity about its ultimate
purpose -- not unusual for something that's still taking
shape -- there's no reason at this point to think it's
nuclear," the official said. "The Iranians put military
stuff in tunnels, too. People should be cautious about
reaching conclusions here."
But Soona Samsami, an Iranian activist, called the project a
"major" enrichment site more important than the facility at
Qom confirmed by Western officials last year.
The presenters said there is no evidence yet that
centrifuges have been moved into the new building.
The opposition group was the first to reveal the existence
of secret Iranian uranium enrichment facilities in Natanz
and a heavy water facility in Arak back in 2002 -- the sites
were later confirmed by U.S. intelligence. Though officials
typically have confirmed revelations made by the resistance
group, they have at times had a mixed record and are listed
on the State Department's terror group list -- a list
representatives argue should not include them. The European
Union took them off their terror list last year.
U.S. officials could not confirm the credibility of the
nuclear site claims Thursday, but State Department spokesman
P.J. Crowley said the administration would "study" the
information provided by the group.
"The MEK has made pronouncements about Iranian facilities in
the past -- some accurate, some not," he said.
Iranian officials have defended their right to nuclear
development but claim their research is for peaceful
purposes only. The regime raised alarm last month when it
started up its first nuclear reactor at the Russian-built
Bushehr plant.
Alireza Jafarzadeh is a FOX News Channel Foreign Affairs
Analyst and the author of "The
Iran Threat: President Ahmadinejad and the Coming Nuclear
Crisis" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).
Jafarzadeh has revealed Iran's terrorist network in Iraq and
its terror training camps since 2003. He first disclosed the
existence of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility and the
Arak heavy water facility in August 2002.
