An inside look at the base where Iran is developing nuclear weapons
UN nuclear watchdog to release report on activities this week; Iran has carried out experiments in the final stage for developing nuclear weapons including explosions and computer simulations of explosions.
By Yossi Melman Tags: Iran Iran nuclear IAEA TehranIran is pursuing its nuclear weapons program at the Parchin military base about 30 kilometers from Tehran, diplomatic sources in Vienna say. The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to release a report this week on Iran's nuclear activities.
According to recent leaks, Iran has carried out experiments in the final, critical stage for developing nuclear weapons - weaponization. This includes explosions and computer simulations of explosions. The Associated Press and other media outlets have reported that satellite photos of the site reveal a bus-sized container for conducting experiments.
Parchin serves as a base for research and development of missile weaponry and explosive material. It also has hundreds of structures and a number of fortified tunnels and bunkers for carrying out explosive experiments.
As far back as eight years ago, U.S. intelligence sources received information indicating that the bunkers would also be suitable to develop nuclear weapons. According to that information, Iran conducted experiments there to examine its capacity to simulate a nuclear explosion.
The Iranians rejected an IAEA request to visit Parchin, saying that IAEA rules permitted the organization's member states to deny such visits to military bases. Now, eight years later, the site is again suspected as a location for covert military nuclear activity.
Sources say that this time around, the IAEA report will contain clearer language on military aspects of the Iranian nuclear program. The report is in the final drafting stages and will need the approval of the IAEA's director general, Yukiya Amano.
According to information leaked to the media, the report will include a 12-page appendix with details including documents and satellite photos that support the contention that, in violation of its international obligations, Iran is covertly developing nuclear weapons.
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Parchin military base, about 30 kilometers from Tehran. |
| Photo by: Haaretz |
The report is also expected to detail Iranian's progress on uranium enrichment at its Natanz facility and state that the Islamic Republic still refuses to disclose information on various aspects of its atomic program. This in turn arouses suspicions that Iran is hiding information and is indeed developing nuclear weapons.
Previous IAEA reports have said Iran already has four and a half tons of uranium at Natanz that are enriched at 3.5 percent. If such a quantity is enriched to 90 percent, something Iran has the capacity for, it will be enough to produce fissile material for four or five nuclear bombs.
The report is expected to state that Iran has also begun to install centrifuges at a facility near Qom that is built underground to shield the site from an air attack.
Both the Natanz and Qom sites, however, are subject to regular visits by IAEA inspectors. Any decision on moving to the final stage in a nuclear weapons program would largely be up to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with the assistance of two military advisers.
In any event, diplomats say it is unlikely the IAEA's governing board will condemn Iran when it meets on November 17 and 18. It might take months to convince China and Russia to support a board resolution that could be the first step toward additional UN sanctions, they say.
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... how about some photos of Israel's nuclear facilities?
It is funny how such important and sensitive information is always "leaked" to the media.
If anyone was wondering what 180-degree-turn explanation the Iranian Regime would use to defend its military nuclear tests after telling the world ad nauseum that they're only developing a civilian program, well any intelligent person who witnessed Khomenei & Co. create the Islamic Republic back in 1979 with a big lie and then continue shoring up the Regime through Khamenei & Co.'s time with more sustained lies will know it's not rocket science to extrapolate that it'll be yet another lie that says they were forced by Israeli and American threats into securing their continued existence as the great Iranian-Aryan nation by backing up their defensive barks and baring of their fangs with nuclear capped incisors. More truthfully it'll be Iran's 30 year old plan and agenda to achieve regional hegemony and beyond as you'll recall that Khomenei in the midst of a bloodbath with Iraq back in the early 1980's incredulously called his war with Saddam the "War of the Liberation of Jerusalem".
Hermann Goering was a Nazi criminal, but he understood some things about war and invented threats: “Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”
Ever heard of Winston Churchill? He fought against Goering. He remarked, " An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." But then he was a warmonger who refused to listen to a petition with millions of signatures against going to war with Germany. After all, Hitler was only interested in Poland.
Kingstone, you obviously very ignorant regarding this situation .Israel has been told by the Islamic Republic of Iran that they are going to wipe Israel off the map. When the Natzi's slaughtered 6 million Jews nobody came to their help. So this time the Israeli's will do what they have to do to save their nation . Do you get it Mr Kingstone ....I do not think so .............
Wait the the report to be published, read it carefully and then respond if you feel competent to do so.
How many times has israel threatened another country with annihilation with or without its nukes = 0 how many times has Iran threatened the same = 10+
israel would start a war just to shift attention away from the brutality of the occupation.
Can you give an example, which is not biased towards one side or another?
israel does not brutally occupy...and irans president is the only one who has openly threatened israel with its destruction and not vice versa...get your facts right Kingston!
rather diplomatic sources in knesset say. Enough of this israeli madness.
STOP WARMONGER israel!
doesnt israel have ANY SHAME?!
same bus in pre Iraq war that possessed nukes? Enough of this warmongering!
So what would it take for you to believe IRAN is seeking weapons an IAEA report? Iran open declaration that it would DEVASTATE tel-aviv? or would you believe this after israel was actually attacked.. then say.. oh maybe it wasnt war mongering
produce a bomb for defense another thing to produce a bomb with the purpose for killing someone else.
And has Israel ever used a single one, or even threatened to do so?
There are no bombs of peace.
Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised. (George W. Bush, address to the U.S., March 17, 2003)
I for one completely agree with you....even if you can't spell your own name.
that was a diffrent time ,..this time its the truth!!!! honest..".trust me, they're there" (mr t blair)
So is Netanyahu all talk or is he wanting others to spend blood and treasure on IIsrael's behalf?
Might well be on its last leg of its journey !
Israel is not reliable on this matter. Last time they said Sadam had tons of chemical weapons. I doubt IAEA are stupid and cannot discover nukes.
what a truck was.
bravo iran. West wants to stop the scientific and technologic advancement of Iran, but no one can stop this great nation.
Iraqs WMDs all over again!
iran is giving access to inspectors, perhaps they may be clever enough to keep a few bits and pieces out of sight
and distract the inspectors?
no evidence of any nuclear activity on iranian territory quel suprise
I urge Chine and Russia to release a joint statement saying that an attack on Iran is an attack on their interests. Someone needs to start standing up to the war mongering bullies in Tel Aviv and Washington.
and why is it in their interest that iran have nukes?
An attack on Iran will have severe economic consequences for China Which is why despite Netanyahu jumping up and down and waving his arms about Iran will not be attacked militarily but might be subject to further sanctions. After what happened in Libya it i unlikely anything will be passed in the UN, and politically the west will not be able to attack Iran without a UN mandate.
Why does the world community demand the same investigations about Israels nuclear programm? Iran has allowed acces to their installations, but not yet Israel. The God´s chosen people is not above international laws even if they assume this for themself. Israel has already nuclear weapons. Why should the same weapons not be allowed for other countries?
so netanyahooo hasnt threatend iran then?.... and liebermann has only positive things to day on the subject...
because Israel never has threatened to "wipe off the map" any of its neighbors like Iran has so many times threatened Israel. Just goes to prove that some nations act responsibly with its weapons and some, like Iran, can't be trusted with these types of weapons !!! Do you get it now...??
Israel has made 0 threats against any country insinuating the use of any WMD. Phrases like ' wipe off the map' or 'devastate' there is a difference.
I am an Arab, and I wish that both the nuclear capabilities of Iran and Israel are completely destroyed. Now this seems to be clear for Iran as US and Israel will eventually strike. But who will destroy Israel's arsenal?? I hope that Iran's big surprise will be that they attack all Israels nuclear sites.
You won't live to see that day. Iran will turn into ashes.
The Teacher/Instruct - All the more reason Iran should want and have them.
no special cases
to ensure that it is not attacked, but Iran is not?
it does not escape from the eyes of the world that israel wants to be toally above all existing laws, and it therefore hates interference. all citizens in this world must be equal, and treated as such.
Bigger than what? Do you know how big (small) Israel is? Have you compared it to every single surrounding Arab country? Israel has returned land (to Egypt) that is larger than all of Israel is today. What are you on about?
This report is a game changer. It's further hard proof of what Iran is doing. The time to act is now. The US must stop Iran, or regret its decision to not do so for decades.
Suspicions, beliefs , possible duel use items and photos which reveal a bus-sized container are not conclusive proof of anything ( except perhaps the enthusiasm [or paranoia] of the accusers) .
The IAEA is nothing more than a servant of its western leaders. If the report hasn't been released yet, how does everyone know the information? Have Israel and the US added their own evidence so people could accept the war? Iran should withdraw from the IAEA and speed up its nuclear weapons program so there is no war in the end.
I really don't see why people on this forum are in favor of Iran having nukes simply because they don't like the US and Israel... You think Iran won't target anyone if the US or Israel are destroyed?! Dictators survive because they blame the poverty and suffering of the people on someone else and it really doesn't matter who... if they destroy the US it would be the EU...
No not at all, but if being outside the NPT allows Israel to have nuclear weapons no questions asked, then Iran should be allowed to operate under the same rules if it so chooses.
Iran has attacked no-one for 400 years Yet is continually threatened by Israeli political leaders when their poll ratings begin to fall. It is generally accepted that Israel has nuclear weapons, netanyahu threatens Iran with attack every couple of weeks. Iranian leaders would be absolving themsselves of their responsibilities if they didn't pursue parity with Israel.
Analyzed satellite data from the USSR and concluded that the orthodox Russian churches were in fact secret launch pads for ICBMs and there were thousands of them...which started the USA on a massive nuclear weapons building program, Russian spies in the USA heard that a massive arms build up was happening so the Kremlin followed suit and the arms race started. ALL BECAUSE DATA WAS INTERPRETED WRONGLY. All this is on the record, Google it.
Which satellite in the 1950's was capable of such such data collection? It was 1958 before anything at all was put in orbit and I don't think Laika the russian dog was too reliable a witness.. The first photo of earth from space was in 1959 and you'd be lucky to find the soviet union in that, never mind a church/icbm site.
Iran is not innocent. Iran has been sponsoring terror attacks in Iraq against Sunnis. Iraq has been murdering Allied soldiers in Ahfganistan. Iran has been backing Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Hizbollah against Israel. It's time Iran fights it's own wars for a change.
The one who is attacking first must count on the certainty of a reply that, sooner or later, could be the end of Israel. Continuing the occupation and the settlements will ensure this happening. The whole world, without exception, but not our government, knows that.
the issue of the day is iran. the question that must be answered is whether a nuclear armed iran is a greater existential threat than a war against iran. i think that a nuclear armed iran is a greater existential threat. a war against iran would be difficult and cause casualties, but there might not be another choice. a nuclear armed iran is a nightmare. i have come to believe that israel can do it, although i hope that ultimately she will not have to do it alone.the issue of the palestinians cannot be solved as long as the issue of iran is not solved. shavua tov, cipora
chompsky thinks that a nuclear iran would bring peace and stability to the region. read his post. very entertaining.
What does that even really mean? Do you believe that if Iran had nuclear arms they would attack Israel with them- really? And why should Iran view Israel as any less of a threat - after all there has been ALOT of very nasty threats directed at them?
The issue of the day is whether western governments would survive attacking Iran on behalf of Israel. Notwithstanding whether Russia and China will stand idly by and allow western powers carte blanche to do whatever they want vis a vis Iran. Looks like Isrel will have to attack on it's wown and then pray that Iran's response is one they can handle until the western powers come to the aid of Israel.
This report tells the world community what it needed to justify a strike against Iran. Iran is a terrorist supporting, rogue, extreme Islamic nation that is threatening the world with a nuclear holocaust. Enough is enough, US, NATO, UK, Russia need to act and strike Iran immediately.
A country as big as Iran needs some planning and coordination of several countries... with the US and EU in financial crisis it is no surprise that they are trying to avoid the possibility of becoming invested in another democratic crusade.
I realize attacking Iran needs planning, but waiting till Iran has nuclear weapons is too risky to wait.
Every country in the Middle East should sign and then abide by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
neither technically nor mentally!
So Israel can demand that Iran stop it's peruse to acquire nuclear energy while they themselves continue to defy the world. Israel doesn't have to show the world what nuclear weapons they posses that's sounds to me like double standards and is unacceptable. Ahmadinejad will not run iran for ever and that's the reason why Israel should restrain itself from starting world war 3. Israel cannot use the excuse that he wants to wipe us off the map that's plain ignorance. If the world wants to force Iran to show what they have Israel must do the same.
It isn't true, I have been working there for 5 years.
Israel is aggressively expanding into Arab territory. They have shown no signs of slowing down and they have not stated where their final borders will lay. American politicians stumble over one another in their eagerness to support this process. We can accurately state two likely facts that will emerge as the process continues. (1) The process will not go on forever. (2) Israel will never stop voluntarily. This means that Israel must be stopped. America is not up to that challenge. Who does this leave? You guessed it. We may never see peace in the middle east, and it is likely to get worse before it gets better, but if there is a chance for peace, that chance is Iran and Iran's nuclear program. Why else are Israel and America trying to push the rest of the world into a war with Iran? Israel's behavior has been much worse than Iran's behavior over the years. Israel's supporters don't seem to notice this fact, but it is quite obvious to everyone else.
IAEA..just another stooge organisation under control of the US/israel
Israel HAS already nukes, probably till many decades. It did not wait your authorization for that. Israel never threatened to destroy any country.
Its only fair that iran has nukes. Every other world power has them too. Iran would never use them because they would be annihilated by other countries. No one country could ever launch an attack without being completely destroyed and everyone knows that so it doesnt matter if they have them
Why not turn Iran into one large suicide bomb? This fits in perfectly with Jihad philosophy and Islamic martyrdom.
who don't share their crazy outdated religion!
If Iran wants nukes, we should oblige them and drop one on them.
doesn't matter what the IAEA decide on the 17th or 18th of nov.. it also doesn't matter if russia or china go along with it. the us, britain, and israel will demolish the country before they have a chance to build a weapon.
is your biggest weakness.
Iran has pledged to destroy Israel. Their president has stated that they will do that on numerous occasions. Therefore, the Israeli's can't allow them to attain nuclear weapons or they risk their own survival. This means there is going to be a war in the Middle East. It is as inevitable as the sunrise unless Iran stops its nuclear program. When someone says they are going to kill you and they are building the means to do so, you can't just stand by and wait for them to do it.
The only thing Iran has 'said' was said by its President, who is not the ultimate power anyway and what he said, according to experts in the Persian language was: ' the zionist entity will pass from the pages of history.' Hardly a threat to destroy Israel. Let's not forget that the first and second world wars were also sourced in such lies.
I think u r talking to yrself lol
Jews will become the target of world outrage.....if Israel touches Iran....Especially, in the US where people want to end this dangerous alliance..... It has overstepped it bounds......Dutch
Iraq has nukes, too!
If the Iranians don't let the IAEA inspect military bases such as Parchin, how does the IAEA know what is going on in there? What if the person leaking information to the IAEA about alleged nuclear weapons work at Parchin is lying? There is still not a scrap of credible hard evidence to prove that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. Even if scientists are running software on computers to simulate nuclear explosions, there's no law against this. It doesn't mean that nuclear weapons are being built. It's time for Iran to draw a line in the sand and demand that in the absence of any hard evidence that it is building nuclear weapons, Irann will withdraw from the NPT and boot out the IAEA completely and shut down all monitoring at all nuclear sites unless all UN sanctions are dropped forthwith. And if any nation dares to attack Iran, then all options are on the table, including attacks in the attacker's home nations against any target that will bring the attacker to its knees.
I say let the games begin. It's very clear that no matter how much proof there is. Some people just don't get it and will never believe .
like the ones they saw in iraq u mean?
Of course they're building them. This is known and understood technology. The only obsacle is an engine problem (delivery system) At the least Iran wants a balance of power. At the most they want to destroy Isreael., a state they have attacked since 1948. If a nuclear war comes about, the ones still living will be unlucky ones.
To end life as we know it!
The "two military assistants" of Khamenei are irrelevant. The nuclear weapons program has its own dynamic, and Parchin, Qom, and Natanz are not the only sites of weaponization. There are a hundred or more such places in the disseminated, complex underground web of bunkers, civilian-covered facilities and so on.
The time has come to blast them back to the stone age before they ignite a nuclear fire that consumes the not only the Persian and Arab states, but the rest of the world from the fallout.
Intelligence reports have a habit of being wrong.
The US has used weapons of mass destruction against japan.. Can i request to post pictures of the effects it had on the innocent children of japan? Can i request to post the photos of the innocent people of afghanistan and iraq who were the victims of the wars the US has started? 30 years of sanctions which would be enough to cripple any country , but iran is still advancing still going strong... Why is iran still part of the NPT... It is run by the US. Nothing iran does will convince them their nuclear program is peacefull.. BECAUSE IT IS RUN BY THE USA. Keep it up iran, I just wish the government would support the citizens and not be so brutal towards its own citizens because then iran would be a force to be reckoned with. Regards Proud Iranian
By all means let Iran haveits nukes, They are spending more electricity on centrifuges, then they can ever hope to gain from atomic energy.
what i learned is israel gud at murdering unarmed civilian.
Cheers,
im sure the response will be "but iran is a pariah state bent on world domination and destruction" go read some history about the amount of countries that have fallen into that category when they refuse total submission to US rule. There is no country on earth that has toppled more democratic governments than the US. there is no country in the world that supports more dicatorships than the US. there is no country in the world that has killed more civilians than the US. there is no country in the world that has used a nuclear bomb except the US. there is no country in the world Never forget: saddam remained in power against iraqis' will only by US support. Mubarak the same. Taliban was a ragged small time gang until it was in america's interest to arm, fund, support and strengthen them. then the afghans were left to live under them. Iran was a beaming democracy under mosadeq until he wanted to nationalise his own country's control over its own oil. go read about the disgraceful way in which the US pursued every dishonest means at its disposal and every type of propaganda and falsehood to overthrow him and install a dictator who starved 50million people in order to fund his megalonomic pursuit of power and wealth. theres so much propaganda around us it drowns out every whisper of truth and reality. this is no different. no country that has nuclear weapons can point the finger at another country trying to acquire them. and fear not, iran is no demonic suicidal nation and has no interest in nuking anyone. ALL that having a nuke will do is prevent the west from imposing its rules on a sovereign nation.
And remember no country helps out more countries by feeding them ,being one of the first to help when disaster strikes. The USA is a great country and yes while not perfect they are still better than any other country .
dont you understand..... oh that is right you are the chosen...no law or international ruling applies to you
Unfortunately many would rather be taught, (regardless of it's credibility) than to pick up a book or search for facts themselves.
Everything in your post is fact ! Amnesia and willfull ignorance is Israel and USA's most strategic asset. Lets just call them a stategic reserve of the ignorant!
if iran withdraw frm npt, wil u stop condemn it n leave it in peace as u let israel?
And how is this a surprise??