Tel Aviv: The US and Israeli Intelligence Organisations (IIO) are trying to get a confirmation to the claim of Iranian opposition groups that Iran is assembling nuclear warheads.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has released intelligence alleging that the Iranian regime is covertly developing nuclear warheads for missiles exceeding a 3,000-kilometre range. According to NCRI’s Defence and Strategic Research Committee, based on reports from the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the missile programs at Shahrud and Semnan sites are directly tied to Tehran’s nuclear weaponisation entity, SPND.
According to the website of NCRI, this project to develop nuclear warheads has historically been camouflaged as a space initiative, ostensibly aimed at launching communication satellites.
”However, the two facilities, previously recognised as rocket or space satellite launch sites, are now in full coordination with the regime’s nuclear weaponisation entity, the Organisation for Advanced Defence Research (SPND).”
According to the website, a missile facility on the outskirts of Semnan, approximately 220 kilometres east of Tehran, is working to produce liquid-fuel missiles with nuclear warheads.
”These reports, compiled from dozens of sources and thoroughly validated, indicate that in recent months, SPND has intensified its efforts to construct nuclear warheads at both the Shahrud and Semnan sites.”
The Ghaem-100 missile, with a mobile launch pad that enhances its military capability, was produced by the IRGC Aerospace Force and copied from North Korean missiles.
According to the website, the production of the Ghaem missile was designed from the very beginning to carry a nuclear warhead. The IRGC Brigadier General Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, the father of the IRGC’s missile program, personally pursued the project.
In November 2011, while testing the first stage of this missile, Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam and dozens of IRGC missile experts were killed at the Modarres site in Tehran. In recent months, Israel has made it clear that if there is a solid indication that Iran is capable of attacking Israel with a nuclear weapons, Israel will act.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington DC on February 2 for a meeting with President Trump. One of the main issues is the nuclear threat posed by Iran.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda