Region | Iran
Exile group pinpoints two new facilities
An Iranian exile group said on Thursday that it has identified two previously unknown sites in and near Tehran where it says Iranian scientists are researching and trying to manufacture detonators for nuclear weapons.
- By Edward Cody, Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service
- Published: 22:05 September 25, 2009
Paris: An Iranian exile group said on Thursday that it has identified two previously unknown sites in and near Tehran where it says Iranian scientists are researching and trying to manufacture detonators for nuclear weapons.
The allegation, from the Paris-based Mujahideen-e Khalq, was designed to reinforce the exiles' longstanding contention that the Iranian government, despite repeated denials, has an active programme to develop a nuclear arsenal under the aegis of the Defence Ministry and the Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The announcement was timed to coincide with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's appearance at the United Nations General Assembly and with intensified pressure from the United States and other major powers to force Iran to allow full inspection of its nuclear-related facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
There was no way to confirm the authenticity of Thursday's allegation. But previous Mujahideen information has given Western intelligence agencies tips about some Iranian nuclear activities or provided details about research sites.
Mehdi Abrishamchi, a Mujahideen activist, said as far as he knew, no Western governments were aware of the existence of the two newly discovered sites.
As did Ahmadinejad in interviews on Wednesday, Iran repeatedly has denied a desire to acquire nuclear weapons. But Abrishamchi said the two sites house programmes designed to research and produce high-explosive detonators for atomic bombs.
The information came from "dozens of sources at different levels of the Iranian regime's various organs".
Abrishamchi, a senior member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a Mujahideen-run umbrella group, said the two sites were part of a complex known as METFAZ, the Farsi acronym for Research Centre for Explosion and Impact, that apparently has been in operation for several years under command of the Defence Ministry.
The first site, a research and administrative facility in eastern Tehran, was purchased by the Defence Ministry under the name of Massoud Sadighi Divani, a senior ministry official, Abrishamchi said.
The second site, about 32km to the east, is used to manufacture parts needed to construct the detonators, he said.
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