Dissident group: Iran secretly manufactured thousands of weapons grade uranium enrichment centrifuge
http://www.ncr-iran.org/content/view/288/71/
Associated Press, London, August 18 - Iran has manufactured thousands of centrifuges capable of enriching uranium to weapons grade in a covert nuclear program, an Iranian dissident group said Thursday.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran said the Iranian regime was working round the clock to build centrifuges and was storing thousands already constructed in warehouses belonging to the defense ministry and Revolutionary Guard in Tehran and Isfahan.Hossein Abedini, a member of the council's foreign affairs committee, told a news conference in London that the information came from sources within the Tehran regime who have proven accurate in the past.
The group helped uncover nearly two decades of covert nuclear activity in 2002. Its claims Thursday could not immediately be independently verified.They tally closely with claims made last week to The Associated Press by Iranian dissident Alireza Jafarzadeh, a former member of the NCRI who now runs Strategic Policy Consulting, a Washington-based think tank focusing on Iran and Iraq.
"The clerical regime is pursuing nuclear weapons with full force," said Abedini. He urged Britain, France and Germany, which are trying to convince Tehran to abandon its nuclear activities, to take a tougher stance."If we do not want a terrorist regime obtaining nuclear weapons, the policy of appeasement must be abandoned," he said, adding that Iran's nuclear file should be referred to the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions.
Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful civilian purposes, and centrifuges also can be used to produce fuel for nuclear power plants. The United States contends Tehran is intent on producing nuclear weapons.The country resumed uranium conversion in Isfahan earlier this month, after rejecting an EU offer that sought a nuclear freeze in return for various economic, technological and political incentives.
The move sparked condemnations from Europe. U.S. President George W. Bush has said all options are on the table, including military action, to halt the nuclear program.
Associated Press, London, August 18 - Iran has manufactured thousands of centrifuges capable of enriching uranium to weapons grade in a covert nuclear program, an Iranian dissident group said Thursday.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran said the Iranian regime was working round the clock to build centrifuges and was storing thousands already constructed in warehouses belonging to the defense ministry and Revolutionary Guard in Tehran and Isfahan.Hossein Abedini, a member of the council's foreign affairs committee, told a news conference in London that the information came from sources within the Tehran regime who have proven accurate in the past.
The group helped uncover nearly two decades of covert nuclear activity in 2002. Its claims Thursday could not immediately be independently verified.They tally closely with claims made last week to The Associated Press by Iranian dissident Alireza Jafarzadeh, a former member of the NCRI who now runs Strategic Policy Consulting, a Washington-based think tank focusing on Iran and Iraq.
"The clerical regime is pursuing nuclear weapons with full force," said Abedini. He urged Britain, France and Germany, which are trying to convince Tehran to abandon its nuclear activities, to take a tougher stance."If we do not want a terrorist regime obtaining nuclear weapons, the policy of appeasement must be abandoned," he said, adding that Iran's nuclear file should be referred to the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions.
Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful civilian purposes, and centrifuges also can be used to produce fuel for nuclear power plants. The United States contends Tehran is intent on producing nuclear weapons.The country resumed uranium conversion in Isfahan earlier this month, after rejecting an EU offer that sought a nuclear freeze in return for various economic, technological and political incentives.
The move sparked condemnations from Europe. U.S. President George W. Bush has said all options are on the table, including military action, to halt the nuclear program.
posted by Marcel at 8:11 AM
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