More nuclear ‘secrets’ to eat up IAEA resources
Alireza Jafarzadeh is now acknowledged by neoconservatives in the Bush Administration to be more effective than Maryam Rajavi in bringing about regime change in Iran.
Just as western concerns over the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme appeared to be veering toward the dialogue/negotiation route – a seemingly highly unpopular approach in the US which appears to favour military intervention as its primary foreign policy tool – Jafarzadeh was wheeled out one more time to expose – through the Associated Press – a fresh secret designed to undermine mutual efforts to move the issues forward.
Without waiting for the IAEA to "take the time to check it against all our information in order to decide whether it is worth following up", Jafarzadeh has already cast doubt on his claim by stating that it came from "members of the resistance inside the country".
Jafarzadeh needs first to bring evidence that the Mojahedin (aka National Council of Resistance of Iran or the resistance) does indeed have members and/or supporters inside the country and that such people are in position to gain greater access to information on Iran’s nuclear activities than the IAEA inspectors, before his claims can be taken seriously by Iran experts.
As it is we should look to the consistent timing of these revelations which only come at times when progress is being made to avoid imposing the sanctions or military intervention which would cause untold hardship and suffering for the Iranian people.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/15520747.htm
Opposition: Iran using laser enrichment
EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press
NEW YORK – Iran has secretly revived a program to enrich uranium using laser technology, reportedly with favorable results, an Iranian opposition figure said Thursday citing information from members of the resistance inside the country.
Alireza Jafarzadeh said information about the laser enrichment program at Lashkar Ab’ad, about 15 miles northwest of Tehran, came from the same sources that led to his revelation in May 2003 that Iran had a clandestine nuclear program.
There was no independent confirmation of the latest information and Iran’s U.N. Mission called the allegation "baseless and unfounded."
Jafarzadeh, who heads the Washington-based Strategic Policy Consulting think tank, is credited with having aired Iranian military secrets in the past. But U.S. officials considered some of his past assertions inaccurate.
Jafarzadeh urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to immediately send U.N. nuclear inspectors to Lashkar Ab’ad and demand access to all areas, including a new 5,000-square foot hall in a large garden where he said secret laser enrichment activities are being conducted.
"We’ve only now been sent a copy of this report," said IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming, "and like all information that we receive, we must take the time to check it against all our information in order to decide whether it is worth following up."
The U.N. has demanded Iran halt uranium enrichment.
Jafarzadeh said there are two ways to separate uranium isotopes and isolate U235 which can be enriched. The most common way is using centrifuges while laser technology is an experimental method, he said.
Jafarzadeh said Iran’s decision to revive its laser enrichment program, which is still at experimental levels, shows Iran wants "to use every possibility that is available to them to rush to the bomb."
The laser enrichment is being conducted under the guise of a front company called Paya Partov whose board is chaired by Reza Aqazadeh, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Jafarzadeh said. Its advisers include Iran’s leading experts on laser enrichment, he said.
Contrary to Iran’s claim that it is complying with its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Jafarzadeh said, "once again the information indicates that this is absolutely not the case."
"The information I’ve gotten from my sources today suggests that Iran is heavily involved in laser enrichment program, something Iran has told the IAEA that they have abandoned," he told a news conference.
Jafarzadeh has worked for the political wing of the Mujahedin Khalq, an Iranian opposition group that Washington and the European Union list as a terrorist organization.
Iran’s U.N. Mission countered in a statement, saying: "It is also a well-known fact that at any stage that the international community is witnessing a step forward in the Iranian peaceful nuclear program, this terrorist group and collaborator of Saddam Hussein tries its best to hamper the progress."
The reference to the deposed Iraqi leader stems from Saddam allowing the Mujahedin Khalq to operate bases in Iraq.
Jafarzadeh said laser technology is an experimental method of separating uranium that can be enriched from that which cannot, a process that normally is done using centrifuges.
Jafarzadeh said Iran’s decision to revive its laser enrichment program, which is still "at experimental levels shows that Iran want "to use every possibility that is available to them to rush to the bomb."
Iran-Interlink, September 15, 2006
