Iran Developing Nuclear Weapon Delivery Systems, U.S. Intelligence Claims

U.S. intelligence agencies have uncovered indications that Iran is attempting to adapt missiles to carry nuclear warheads, Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 17).

“I have seen some information that would suggest that they have been actively working on delivery systems. … You don’t have a weapon until you put it in something that can deliver a weapon,” Powell said. “I’m not talking about uranium or fissile material or the warhead; I’m talking about what one does with a warhead.”

“I’m talking about information that says they not only have these missiles, but I am aware of information that suggests that they were working hard as to how to put the two together,” Powell added.

One expert told the Washington Post that Powell’s remarks indicated Iran was attempting to develop a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on a missile.

“Powell appears to be saying the Iranians are working very hard on this capability,” said Joseph Cirincione, director of the Nonproliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He added that Powell’s statements were surprising in light of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s report this week that it had found no proof that Iran was pursuing a military nuclear capability.

Powell also said Washington had not yet decided on a course of action given Iran’s agreement with European countries Sunday to suspend some nuclear activities.

U.S. monitoring of verification efforts will occur “with necessary and deserved caution because for 20 years the Iranians have been trying to hide things from the international community,” he said (Wright/Richburg, Washington Post, Nov. 18).

Meanwhile, Iran today refuted charges by a dissident group that it was using a facility near Tehran to secretly develop a nuclear weapon, Agence France-Presse reported.

“I totally deny these allegations. This site is not a nuclear site and has nothing to do with our nuclear activities. Iran has no undeclared nuclear activities,” nuclear negotiator Hossein Mousavian told AFP.

Iran has already “declared all our nuclear sites and all our nuclear activities” to the International Atomic Energy Agency, he said.

“We have always responded positively to the agency’s inspections requests. We have always cooperated,” Mousavian said in response to questions about whether the agency would be allowed to visit the suspected site.

Pakistan also rejected the National Council of Resistance of Iran claim that Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan provided Tehran with a bomb blueprint, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Nov. 18).

The charges were leveled eight days before the agency’s Board of Governors is scheduled to consider whether Iran should be referred to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear activities, the New York Times reported. 

“The timing of these revelations raises suspicions that the group is attempting to derail Iran’s deal with the Europeans, particularly since there is no evidence to back up any of these claims,” said David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security.

The claim that Khan supplied Iran with highly enriched uranium in 2001 “seems preposterous, given the fact that was a year when the United States was really cracking down on Pakistan’s nuclear export activities,” Albright said.

Another expert noted that the exiled group has revealed accurate information about Iran’s nuclear activities in the past.

“Everything that came out initially about the Iranian clandestine program was from this organization,” said Paul Leventhal of the Nuclear Control Institute in Washington.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said it is investigating all credible information on Iran’s nuclear program.

“We follow up every solid lead,” said agency spokesman Mark Gwozdecky.

Proof that Iran received highly enriched uranium or bomb designs from any source could disrupt European efforts to negotiate a nuclear agreement with Tehran.

“The game is over if all this is true,” said one Western diplomat close to the agency. “But the IAEA needs more than suspicions, and the Iranian resistance hasn’t given it anything it can follow up on.” (Elaine Sciolino, New York Times, Nov. 17).

In Tehran today, the trial of four Iranians accused of espionage in relation to the country’s nuclear program began, AFP reported.

“These individuals, who infiltrated nuclear facilities and managed to win the confidence of the officials, were spying for foreign countries,” Ali Mobacheri, the head of Tehran’s revolutionary courts, told a state-run newspaper.

“They are in prison and their trial is under way,” he added.

While neither the accused nor the countries they allegedly spied for were identified, the news report says that “in the past these individuals also spied for Iraq.” (Agence France Presse/SpaceWar.com, Nov. 18).

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