Posted on 12/12/2015 12:10:15 AM PST by Keyvan Salami
After years of lying and deceiving the international community, the United Nations nuclear watchdog issued a significant report placing the spotlight on Iran seeking to obtain nuclear weapons. While there are arguments over how long Iran actually went down this path, with various reports referring to 2003, 2009 and now even beyond that, it should not be forgotten that Iran has lied all along and claimed of never seeking the mother of all weapons.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (AIEA) has now confirmed that Tehran actually had a nuclear weapons program and continued its efforts in this regard at least until 2009. After its previous report, such a revelation discredits even more the 2007 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate that mistakenly reported Iran's nuclear weapons program had ceased in 2003. That particular report effectively ruled out any use military force against Iran's nuclear sites by the Bush Administration. A look at this report shows that the 2003 revelation made by the opposition groups delivered a major blow to Tehran's campaign of gaining access to nuclear weapons.
The main aspect of the IAEA report covers the "possible military dimensions" (PMD) to Iran's controversial nuclear program, with many aspects kept in the dark for years. This report further shows a vivid and undeniable lack of cooperation by Iran with the IAEA, being a flagrant violation of the so-called landmark Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
"The Agency assesses that, before the end of 2003, an organizational structure was in place in Iran suitable for the coordination of a range of activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device. Although some activities took place after 2003, they were not part of a coordinated effort", the 16-page IAEA report assess after examining the 12 outstanding issues with Iran. The report tacitly concludes that Tehran's activities continued at least until 2009, if not beyond. While welcoming the report, the Iranian opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) insists on the credibility of its reports to this date, remaining certain of Iran's continued effort to gain nuclear weapons.
2003 is mentioned as the turning point in Iran's effort due to the unveiling of the notorious Lavizan-Shian site located near Tehran by the NCRI back in May 2003. Dubbed by the regime as the "Physics Research Center", this site was the epicenter in their quest for the bomb. The revelation of Lavizan-Shian forced Tehran to level the site and it has now become clear how significant this blow actually was to the regime's non-stop measures for the bomb.
Considering all the hindrance and Tehran refusing to cooperate while also failing to live up to its commitments to the roadmap agreed to in July 2015 with the IAEA, the recent report is eye-opening regarding Tehran's deceptive maneuvers, especially its falsifications over the exploding bridgewire (EBW) or the multipoint initiator (MPI) that should have acted as silver bullets. The IAEA reports describes Tehran's explanations in this regard as contradictory or inconsistent at times. It is underlined in the report that "EBW detonators developed by Iran have characteristics relevant to a nuclear explosive device" and that "the MPI technology developed by Iran has characteristics relevant to a nuclear explosive device".
The IAEA report also turns down any reasoning and claims by Iran that a military site called Parchin - razed to the ground by Iran, again after its revelation by the NCRI - has been used "for the storage of chemical material for the production of explosives". In fact, the report clearly says that "Information available to the Agency in relation to hydrodynamic testing indicated that Iran made and installed a large cylinder at the Parchin military complex in 2000. Other information indicated that this cylinder matched the parameters of an explosives firing chamber featured in publications of the foreign expert. The information available to the Agency, including the results of the analysis of the samples and the satellite images, does not support Iran's statements on the purpose of the building." This report also makes a mockery of Iran's claims regarding the peaceful nature of its nuclear program, and the ridiculous fatwa issued by Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei forbidding the regime of any attempts of gaining nuclear weapons.
The IAEA report focusing on Iran's systematic bids comes at a time that the regime has gone the limits to eliminate any remains, evidence or documents of its secret trek to a nuclear bomb. If the international community had actually stood firm and adopted a strong policy in the face of Tehran's illegal measures, it is certain that probably all aspects of this program would have been revealed and the IAEA would have by now unveiled maybe all of Tehran's attempts to obtain nuclear weapons.
The network inside Iran provided new credible intelligence to the NCRI allowing it to expose the fact that Iran has formed a top-secret committee to prepare the regime's necessary responses to IAEA demands and queries. This revelation, coming on December first, showed that members of this committee were senior Revolutionary Guards and Ministry of Defense officials. In recent years these very figures have been the brains behind Iran's clandestine nuclear projects. Considering the committee's control over the military dimension of the regime's nuclear program, they were tasked to present the entire nuclear apparatus in Iran as a completely peaceful campaign in order to cover up all military aspects or any possible trace thereof. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, known as the mastermind and probably the father of Iran's nuclear weapons program, is a key member of this notorious committee. He was the man who finalizes all answers and delivers the scenarios to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran safeguard bureau. This is the office in charge of presenting Iran's official statements to IAEA inspectors and literally the outside world.
Iran having no intention at all of abandoning its nuclear weapons drive is clearly seen in the latest IAEA report. If Tehran truly had the intention to clarify any doubts it could have easily finalized everything years before by delivering all the necessary documents and evidence. Former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, current head of the Expediency Council and non-officially always been considered Iran's No. 2 man, made significant remarks in a recent interview with the state-run IRNA news agency on October 26th recognizing the fact that from the very beginning Tehran's goal in its nuclear program was nothing but acquiring nuclear weapons, and such a feat has never been abandoned.
Considering the current behavior seen from the regime in Tehran, mentioning of any kind that Iran has actually ended or halted its attempts to obtain the mother of all bombs - being the main objective of the nuclear pact between world powers and Iran - is nothing but a farce. Now that Iran has been caught lying, lifting any sanctions and providing Iran the opportunity to continue its efforts in any way in the status quo will be a green light to the regime to continue with its illusive and very lethal nuclear program.
Keyvan Salami tweets on @Salamikeyvan
Effing Mr. Magoo could see this coming....
Obama... Well he is worse than Blind he is....
Obama signed the agreement with Iran with FULL KNOWLEDGE that Iran has been and is still working on developing a nuclear bomb and deliverable ICBMs with it.
No single issue endangers Israel and the West more than this capitulation by Obama.
It is sad that the lessons of WWII have not been learned.
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