Details About Lost Drone Add to Speculation About Covert U.S. War in Iran
By
Jennifer Griffin
When the Iranians captured a downed U.S. Sentinel drone
intact, the U.S. lost more than just the technology inside
their high-tech spycraft. A secret program to gather
intelligence about Iran’s nuclear sites was revealed and the
U.S. had to admit they were running spy missions from an air
base in Western Afghanistan.
It's the latest in a series of mysterious events, including
explosions and assassinations targeting Iran's nuclear
scientists and its ballistic missile program.
Some argue that the covert war against Iran's nuclear
program is under way, but it began more than a year ago.
First, there was a cyber attack largely believed to have
been carried out by the Israelis with U.S. help targeting
the uranium enrichment facility at Natanz in June 2010. More
than 1,000 centrifuges were destroyed by the Stuxnet worm.
Then there were the dozen or so mysterious explosions at the
homes of Iran's nuclear scientists, including the head of
Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, who was wounded by a car
bomb in November 2010.
Last month, there was an explosion at a secret missile base
near Tehran, and the head of Iran’s long-range missile
program was killed along with 17 top members of Iran’s
Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Alireza
Jafarzadeh, author of “The Iranian Threat” who first
revealed intelligence that Iran had a secret uranium
enrichment facility at Natanz, says there are indications
Iran was testing a new solid fuel rocket. “As they were
doing the final preparations, fully loaded with a warhead
and the fuel, it exploded. And with it, it took the entire
crew of the missile team, including the top commander and
the top missile expert,” Jafarzadeh said.
Two weeks later on November 30, 2011, a blast at a uranium
enrichment plant in Isfahan raised more suspicions that a
covert war was already under way.
Satellite images obtained by Fox News and the Institute for
Science and International Security, or ISIS, from August 27,
2011 show buildings that have been near the plant for 15
years. However, after the November blast the buildings
appear to have disappeared.
“The fact that there were reports about an explosion
somewhere near the nuclear site at Isfahan -- it warrants
more scrutiny, when it comes to a facility that used to be
standing but is now gone,” said Paul Brannan, a senior
analyst with ISIS.
The US Central Command in Tampa, Florida, has been honing
longstanding military plans to strike Iran’s nuclear
facilities. Pentagon officials are concerned Israel will
decide covert action is not enough and will unilaterally
strike Iran's nuclear program, dragging the U.S. into a more
overt mission to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
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.
