Iran Focus: Paris, Mar. 31 The Iranian regime is on a fast-track to obtain nuclear weapons, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the main opposition coalition, who made new revelations at a press conference in Paris today. Mohammad Mohaddessin, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the NCRI, told reporters that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had allocated 2.5 billion dollars to acquire three nuclear warheads. Iran Focus
Paris, Mar. 31 The Iranian regime is on a fast-track to obtain nuclear weapons, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the main opposition coalition, who made new revelations at a press conference in Paris today.
Mohammad Mohaddessin, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the NCRI, told reporters that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had allocated 2.5 billion dollars to acquire three nuclear warheads.
Khamenei has told Shamkhani, the Iranian regimes Defence Minister, that obtaining a nuclear bomb would guarantee the survival of the Iranian regime forever, Mohaddessin said.
He also accused Tehran of speeding up work in Arak, the site of a massive heavy-water plant.
The Iranian regime is engaged in an all-out and expeditious effort to complete the Qatran Complex in Arak (central Iran). The objective is to obtain plutonium to build a nuclear bomb, he said.
The site is also used to generate small-scale electricity and major scientific laboratory tasks that are carried out for plutonium production.
Based on our information, in the first phase, this reactor will produce about 8 to 10 kilos of plutonium that could be used for a nuclear bomb.
Araks heavy water facility is composed of three main parts and nine subsidiary units. The latter have begun their work since a year ago. At present, two main units of the facility are at production stage and produce eight tons of 15% heavy-water. With the completion of the third unit, the complex will increase heavy-water production from eight to 16 tons. Heavy-water will increase from 15 percent to 99.8 percent, he said.
Mesbah Energy Company, affiliated with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, is responsible for operating this facility, he said.
Mohaddessin charged that an engineer called Manouchehr Madadi was supervising the research and development of Araks heavy-water facility and that he reports to another engineer by the name of Dariush Sheibani who works for the Mesbah Energy Company.
Also a confidential report by the Iranian parliament which the opposition had obtained, entitled, An appraisal of the conduct of the Atomic Energy Organization and prepared in February 2004, was shown to reporters.
The report stated, Unfortunately, the Majlis was unaware of these two major projects and affiliated programs. It is not clear to the legislative branch from where the budget for these projects were provided. Nor was it aware of how this project began and implemented. In the governments three-year activity report no mention was made of these projects.
This report clearly reveals Tehrans intentions about its nuclear programs, so much so that the even the parliament is unaware of them and the budget is allocated outside the normal budgetary process overseen by the Parliament, Mohaddessin added.
The latest revelations follow information released last week by the Iranian Resistance to the international community regarding Irans suspected nuclear weapons complex in Parchin, south of Tehran.
The NCRI charges that secret underground tunnels have been set up at the sight and that Tehran may have already begun enriching uranium there using laser technology.
Mohaddessin told reporters that the latest information were provided by the main Iranian opposition group, the Peoples Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), and their supporters with access to high-level information inside Iran.
Since August 2002, the NCRI has earned a record for its nuclear revelations, which included the heavy-water complex in Arak as well as a massive uranium enrichment plant in Natanz.
Mohaddessin criticised the European Union making particular reference to the French government for its policy of appeasement vis-à-vis the Iranian regimes nuclear weapons program. He said that Frances decision to invite the regimes president Mohammad Khatami to Paris next week simply convinces the mullahs that they could continue to vigorously pursue their nuclear weapons program.
He called on the international community to develop a firm policy against the Iranian regime for its pursuit of nuclear weapons and to send Tehrans nuclear file to the United Nations Security Council.
