The United Press International, New York – The National Council of Resistance of Iran says it has discovered a hidden nuclear development program in at least three sites near Tehran.
Alireza Jafarzadeh, president of Strategic Policy Consulting, announced Thursday evidence from the NCRI indicating laser enhancement of uranium at the Lashkar Abad facility under the façade of front company Paya Partov.
“Iran is heavily involved in laser enrichment programs, something Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency that they have abandoned,” Jafarzadeh said at a hotel near U.N. World Headquarters in New York. The IAEA, a United Nations’ watchdog organization, monitors nuclear activity.
“The Paya Partov company,” he said, "is portrayed as a benign laser research and equipment factory that provides laser equipment for medical activities, for industrial use, for the steel industry." It’s run by Dr. Jamshid Sabaqzadeh, who also runs the Lashkar Abad site that was revealed by the same sources within the NCRI in 2003 to house a nuclear weapons program.
Jafarzadeh described the laser enrichment program as being a more efficient yet complicated method of enriching uranium to weapons levels compared to the more common practice of centrifuge enrichment.
Along with activity at Lashkar Abad, sources suspect laser enrichment programs at Malek Ashtar University and military facilities in Parchin, both located just south of Tehran.
“It’s very clear where Tehran is headed with it’s nuclear program," he said. "I think this is a very historic moment for the international community to act decisively.”
Jafarzadeh is hoping that during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to the United Nations next week, he will meet strong opposition to Iran’s refusal to comply with the U.N. Security Council’s Aug. 31 deadline to halt uranium enrichment.
“This cannot go on,” he said. “God knows how far they are.”
