Israel Matzav

Iran moving nuclear weaponization research to secure site

Iranian dissidents are reporting that the Tehran regime is in the process of moving its nuclear weapons research facilities to more secure sites in a bid to stave off international inspections.

The dissident National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) exposed Iran's uranium enrichment facility at Natanz and a heavy water facility at Arak in 2002. But analysts say it has a mixed track record and a clear political agenda.

An accusation it made in July about a secret underground nuclear site under construction in Iran drew a cautious international response, while the United States expressed skepticism about another claim in 2010.

The NCRI's announcement comes days before Iran and six world powers are to meet in Geneva to try to end years of deadlock over the nuclear program, with hopes of a breakthrough raised by the election of a relatively moderate president in Iran, Hassan Rouhani. Iran denies conducting any nuclear weapons work.

The Paris-based NCRI, citing information from sources inside Iran, said a nuclear weaponization research and planning center it called SPND was being moved to a large, secure site in a defence ministry complex in Tehran about 1.5 km (1 mile) away from its former location.

It said the center employed about 100 researchers, engineers and experts and conducted small-scale experiments with radioactive material.

"There is a link between this transfer and the date of Geneva (talks) because the regime needed to avoid the risk of visits by (UN nuclear) inspectors," Mehdi Abrichamtchi, who compiled the NCRI report, told a news conference in Paris.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, declined to comment.

A Western nuclear expert, Mark Fitzpatrick, said he did not find the NCRI's allegation credible and that US intelligence agencies continued to believe that Iran was "still keeping most of its weaponization efforts under ice".

"If the NCRI knows about a nuclear weaponization research and planning center in Iran, you can bet the CIA knows about it too, yet there has been no hint of it in public or leaked assessments," Fitzpatrick told Reuters in an emailed comment.

Sorry, but I have a hard time believing any of these people who pooh-pooh Iran's nuclear efforts. They've been wrong too many times in the past. 

Labels: Iranian nuclear threat, P 5+1

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:00 PM