The Iranian nuclear plant at Isfahan
Credit: Vahid Salemi /AP
Iran is deliberately concealing key components of its nuclear programme from UN inspectors that can be used for producing nuclear weapons, according to the latest reports received by Western intelligence officials.
The equipment being hidden from UN inspectors includes machinery, pumps and spare parts for centrifuges, the machines used to enrich uranium to weapons grade.
In addition, materials such as carbon fibre, which can be used in the production of advanced centrifuges, are also being stored at secret sites in Iran administered by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has overall responsibility for Iran’s nuclear programme.
Intelligence officials believe the material, which is supposed to be declared to UN inspectors under the terms of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal, is being stored in 75 containers.
The containers are regularly transported around the country to sites administered by the Atomic Energy Agency of Iran (AEOI). According to recent images collected by intelligence satellites, some of the containers were stored at the AEOI’s uranium conversion facility at Isfahan.
Under the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal that former US President Barack Obama negotiated with Tehran, Iran is required to make a full disclosure of all the equipment and materials related to Iran’s nuclear activities.
But UN inspectors, who are supposed to make regular assessments of Iran’s nuclear facilities, have accused Iran of deliberately concealing key elements of its nuclear activities.
Last year Britain joined the US, Germany and France in condemning Iran for denying access to two key nuclear sites.
Since then the Iranian majlis, or parliament, has passed a resolution ordering Iran’s nuclear scientists to begin enriching uranium to 20 percent, far beyond the four percent limit agreed under the JCPOA. They have also banned inspectors from making further inspections.
“The new revelations that Iran is trying to conceal vital elements of its nuclear programme from the outside world shows that Tehran has no intention of complying with its international obligations under the terms of the nuclear deal,” commented a senior Western intelligence source.
“It is yet another indication that the regime remains committed to acquiring nuclear weapons.”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
Credit: PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Tehran has consistently denied accusations that it is trying to acquire a nuclear weapons arsenal, although US intelligence officials have concluded that Iran had an active nuclear weapons programme until 2003.
With tensions mounting between Washington and Tehran in the wake of the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal, there are now serious concerns that Iran has resumed work on developing nuclear weapons.
A senior Iranian official last month said that Iran was prepared to recommence work on its nuclear programme unless punitive US economic sanctions were lifted.
US President Joe Biden has indicated he is keen to revive the nuclear deal, but only on condition that Iran stops breaking the terms of the nuclear accord.
Accusations that Iran has deliberately concealed key elements of its nuclear programme have been circulating in intelligence circles since the early 2000s, when the existence of the Natanz enrichment facility was first revealed by Iranian dissidents.
Intelligence officials believe some of the equipment now being held in the storage containers was already in Iran’s possession prior to the 2015 nuclear deal, while other components have been acquired on the black market in violation of the accord.
Much of the equipment was being stored at warehouses in Isfahan until recently, when it was moved to other, unknown facilities operated by the Revolutionary Guard.
Iran has been identified as one of several countries posing a threat to Britain’s security in the Government’s latest review of defence and foreign policy, which was published last week.
Tensions between London and Tehran have increased in recent weeks over the regime’s treatment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman who has just completed a five year jail term imposed for what are widely regarded as trumped up spying charges.
Despite finishing her sentence earlier this month, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe is now facing fresh charges of spreading anti-regime propaganda, which could result in another prison sentence if she is found guilty.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has denounced Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s “cruel and intolerable” treatment at the hands of the ayatollahs, and called for her immediate release.
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