The revelation that Iran’s regime failed to report the incident to the IAEA comes at a sensitive time
Illustration – An oil refinery in Iran on fire, with smoke billowing.ATTA KENARE / AFP
The Islamic Republic covered up an alleged Israeli sabotage operation on a secret atomic weapons workshop in Tehran’s Shadabad neighborhood that was set ablaze in 2020.
The independent Iran International news organization disclosed the stunning revelations on Sunday via a trove of documents it recently obtained from a hacker group.
The incident appears to have taken place in July 2020 by a group of nine individuals. The apparent ringleader, Masoud Rahimi, was said to be contracted by an anonymous individual claiming to seek revenge against the owner of the nondescript workshop. He offered $10,000 plus a bonus if Rahimi would set it ablaze, destroy property, and film the event.
Unbeknownst to the perpetrators, they were targeting one of the Iranian regime’s undeclared nuclear sites. All nine members of the group were arrested later that same month, and the incident reached the very highest levels of government.
Jason Brodsky, policy director for the think tank United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told i24NEWS that “This workshop does not appear in the ongoing outstanding safeguards inquiries with Iran that the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] has been pursuing, so this raises serious safeguards questions for the IAEA and the Islamic Republic.”
He added, “Since it was connected to AEOI [Atomic Energy Organization of Iran], it’s likely that the workshop focused on centrifuge production or enrichment rather than weaponization, as weaponization activities were absorbed by the Organization for Defensive Innovation and Research, which is part of Iran’s Defense Ministry.”
Iran International reported that “According to judicial documents, the Islamic Republic considers the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, as the main perpetrator of this sabotage operation.”
The dissident Iranian publication noted that the nine defendants were charged with “confrontation with the Islamic government,” “sabotage,” “destruction of one of the Atomic Energy Organization’s devices,” “acts against national security through cooperation with Israel,” and “possession of firearms and drugs.”
Iran International quoted a former representative of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, who is well versed in the regime’s nuclear program, as saying: “I am familiar with almost all the nuclear activities of the Islamic Republic and have often seen these centers up close, but I have never heard of such facilities in the Shadabad area. Considering that the Ministry of Intelligence and the judiciary believe this incident was the work of Israel, we are definitely talking about an important workshop.”
The destruction of the clandestine nuclear workshop was a pressing priority for the regime’s top leadership. According to the Iran International report, “This arson quickly became one of the most significant national security issues in Iran, with reports reaching Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic.
The arrested suspects “were unaware” that they torched a secret workshop. Cellmates of some of the suspects told Iran International the arsonists were deceived and did not know about the nature of the work at the warehouse.
According to one judicial document, Ali Qanatkar, the chief investigator of the first branch of the Sacred Court, wrote to the Tehran prosecutor that “The head of the CIA and the National Security Advisor of America said that unemployed, addicted, and socially maladjusted individuals are suitable capacities for operational activities in the country (Iran).”
Iran International said it “conducted an investigative report based on dozens of documents from the judiciary and the Ministry of Intelligence provided by Ali’s Justice, a network of hacktivists that have revealed troves of Iranian government documents in recent years. Some of the referenced documents are among millions of judicial records that the group announced they had obtained on March 21, 2024.”
The revelation that Iran’s regime did not report the workshop to the IAEA comes at a sensitive time for Israel and Western nations committed to stopping Tehran’s ambitions to build a nuclear weapons device. The IAEA concluded a meeting earlier this month without passing a resolution against the Islamic Republic for advanced work on its atomic program and its refusal to cooperate with the IAEA.
The IAEA told Iran International that the Agency has no “information about this location” with respect to Shadabad.
Content retrieved from: https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/middle-east/iran-eastern-states/artc-revealed-the-illegal-iran-nuclear-weapons-site-that-was-allegedly-sabotaged-by-israel.
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