Dissidents Claim Iran Is Building a New Enrichment Site
The New York Times, September 9, 2010
Foreign Affairs Analyst and Iran Expert
WASHINGTON — A dissident group
that had previously revealed the existence of several hidden
nuclear sites in Iran claimed Thursday that it had evidence
that the country was building another secret uranium
enrichment plant.
The group, the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, showed satellite
photographs of an extensive tunnel-digging operation near a
military garrison northwest of Tehran. But the group had no
pictures of the interior and no evidence to back up its
claim that the site was intended to hold several thousand
centrifuges, the machines used to enrich nuclear fuel for
power production or weapons. The Obama administration, which
publicly revealed evidence a year ago of a hidden nuclear
facility near the holy city of Qum, reacted cautiously to
the group’s announcement.
In recent months officials have said they had no evidence of
another enrichment facility, though they have expressed
suspicions about a number of deep tunnels built into
hillsides or mountains. One United States government
official said the evidence from the People’s Mujahedeen,
which was turned over to American officials this week, would
require careful examination.
A new enrichment plant, if it existed, would heighten
suspicions that Iran was trying to evade international
inspectors and find another way to produce fuel usable in a
bomb. But there are other possible explanations for an
underground facility, including a location to store
conventional weapons.
The exile opposition group has a long and tense history with
the United States government, and it has openly called for a
change of government in Iran. But it accurately revealed the
existence of the country’s main underground nuclear
enrichment center, at Natanz, and the facility at Qum, which
is still under construction. Both are now visited regularly
by international nuclear inspectors.
Some other allegations from the group, one American official
noted Thursday, “haven’t proven as accurate.”
Alireza Jafarzadeh, a spokesman for the group, presented
satellite photographs of the suspect site, near Qazvin, to
reporters in Washington. His group called it the
Behjatabad-Abyek site, named for nearby towns. “This is
certainly part of the secret weapons program,” he said.
He and Soona Samsami, who played a role in revealing a
secret site in Tehran where inspectors later discovered Iran
was secretly manufacturing centrifuges, alleged that some of
the same companies involved in building the Qum facility
were involved in this project. But Mr. Jafarzadeh said he
could not identify the sources of his information inside the
country for fear of jeopardizing their safety.
Iran has declared that it plans to build 10 new enrichment
sites, far more production capacity than it would need for
its nascent nuclear power projects. Under the rules of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran would be required
to reveal those construction plans well in advance; the
Iranians say they no longer subscribe to that provision of
the agency’s rules.
The agency could demand access to the new facility, but it
is unclear if the Iranians would permit such an inspection.
A version of this article appeared in print on September 10,
2010, on page A10 of the New York edition.
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.
