Iran has inadvertently confirmed WND’s report that the Islamic regime
is working on nuclear weapons at a secret facility known as “Quds,” a
name synonymous with the Arabic word for “Jerusalem.”A WND report on March 20 and a follow-up in the Washington Times the next day revealed that Iranian scientists are trying to perfect nuclear warheads at the underground site, which is unknown to the West. The coordinates to this vast site and detailed information about the regime’s secret operation were provided to WND by a high-ranking Iranian intelligence officer assigned to the Ministry of Defense.
Golpanews, which is associated with the Defense Ministry and is
managed by Ayatollah Mohammad Mohammadi-Golpayegani, who heads the
office of the supreme leader, published an article on Saturday under the headline, “New claim by America about revelation of Quds secret nuclear facility in Iran.”
The article quotes the information that appeared on WND: Satellite images reveal the existence of the secret Quds site, indicating Iran, with North Korean help, clearly crossed the red line and is in the final stage of arming its missiles with nuclear warheads; and Iran not only has made great progress in enriching uranium to weapons grade, but also has succeeded in converting the highly enriched uranium to metal, a key step in making nuclear warheads.
Although Golpanews calls the revelation the “West’s imaginary stories on Iran’s nuclear activities,” the report verifies the site by stating, “It is clear that the claim by anti-revolutionaries about the existence of the secret nuclear site, Quds, if correct, is nothing more than the situation with the Parchin site and that the Islamic Republic, based on its international obligations, is only after the science of enrichment and the usage for peaceful nuclear energy.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly requested inspection of the Parchin military site, where it is believed the regime has tested nuclear bomb components. The regime replied that military sites are off-limits and has stonewalled the IAEA for over a year while satellite images show a great effort to clean up the area.
Golpanews, with its connection to the highest levels of the Iranian government, is laying the groundwork for calling Quds a military site and therefore not accessible for inspection by the IAEA.
Also yesterday, Mashregh News, which is run by the Revolutionary Guards, bragged about Iran’s missile might and how missiles will rain down on Israel. Mashregh inadvertently revealed images of mobile missile-launching vehicles for the upgraded Shahab 3 missile, which explains the missile depots and garages at the secret Quds site. Hundreds of these mobile vehicles can launch ballistic missiles concurrently at any one target.
Quds consists of three facilities:
“[The satellite images] suggest the possibility that Iran may in fact be further along in its nuclear weapons program than is generally assumed,” he said. “It is clear they have gone to great lengths to bury and protect high-value assets at this site, which also complicates the possibility of direct military action and illustrates the risks of allowing years to pass while hoping diplomacy will work.
“An accelerating train is harder to slow and takes longer to stop. These images reinforce my concern that Iranian nuclear progress is accelerating,” Trachtenberg said. “The more emphatically the U.S. declares its determination to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear weapons state, the harder it may be to ensure that outcome.”
“Reza Kahlili (who wrote the article revealing the Quds site) has provided the West with one of the most critical pieces of evidence of the Iranian government’s drive to break out its nuclear development into a fully operational capability,” said Maj. Gen. Thomas G. McInerney (Ret.). “All the red lines have been crossed. Beware America, Israel and the West, a nuclear Iran is here!”
McInerney for 35 years served as a pilot, commander and strategic planner in the U.S. Air Force, including as deputy chief of staff for operations and intelligence, Headquarters Pacific Air Forces, and also as vice commander in chief, Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe.
Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, a congressional advisory board, and who has served on the staffs of the Congressional Strategic Posture Commission, the House Armed Services Committee and in the CIA, also reviewed the imagery and information from the source.
“This open-source analysis by itself illustrates that Iran is very serious about building survivable facilities for its nuclear enterprise,” said Pry. “If the Obama administration does not know about this facility, it explodes their credibility. If the Obama administration does already know about this facility, it raises even more serious questions. Have they told Congress about this enormous, heavily defended underground complex and its purpose? Why have they not told the American people? Did the president discuss this matter with Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu – along with his public claim that Iran is ‘more than a year away’ from a nuclear capability?
“Either way,” Pry concluded, “a nuclear Iran is such a grave threat to U.S. and global security that, at minimum, Congress should hold hearings on this matter, find out what the administration really knows and does not know, and whether their judgment about the ‘nuclear red line’ can be trusted to predict when it is about to be crossed.”
Ambassador Hank Cooper and Fritz Ermarth, experienced national security experts who played prominent roles in achieving victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, reviewed the imagery on the new underground facility and the intelligence provided by the source. They both agreed with Pry’s assessment and called for congressional hearings. They believe such hearings should also seek to understand Iran’s underlying goals, its strategy to achieve those goals and appropriate U.S. policies and strategy to counter Iran.
Cooper led arms control negotiations with the U.S.S.R. during the nuclear and space talks and was director of the Strategic Defense Initiative. As an engineer, he helped design hardened underground systems. Ermarth served as chairman of the National Intelligence Council, which writes the National Intelligence Estimates, the most important analytical products of the intelligence community, and served as a special adviser to President Reagan.
The article quotes the information that appeared on WND: Satellite images reveal the existence of the secret Quds site, indicating Iran, with North Korean help, clearly crossed the red line and is in the final stage of arming its missiles with nuclear warheads; and Iran not only has made great progress in enriching uranium to weapons grade, but also has succeeded in converting the highly enriched uranium to metal, a key step in making nuclear warheads.
Although Golpanews calls the revelation the “West’s imaginary stories on Iran’s nuclear activities,” the report verifies the site by stating, “It is clear that the claim by anti-revolutionaries about the existence of the secret nuclear site, Quds, if correct, is nothing more than the situation with the Parchin site and that the Islamic Republic, based on its international obligations, is only after the science of enrichment and the usage for peaceful nuclear energy.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly requested inspection of the Parchin military site, where it is believed the regime has tested nuclear bomb components. The regime replied that military sites are off-limits and has stonewalled the IAEA for over a year while satellite images show a great effort to clean up the area.
Golpanews, with its connection to the highest levels of the Iranian government, is laying the groundwork for calling Quds a military site and therefore not accessible for inspection by the IAEA.
Also yesterday, Mashregh News, which is run by the Revolutionary Guards, bragged about Iran’s missile might and how missiles will rain down on Israel. Mashregh inadvertently revealed images of mobile missile-launching vehicles for the upgraded Shahab 3 missile, which explains the missile depots and garages at the secret Quds site. Hundreds of these mobile vehicles can launch ballistic missiles concurrently at any one target.
Quds consists of three facilities:
- The first is where the regime’s scientists are enriching uranium to weapons grade. They already have enough plutonium for several bombs and are in the last stage of putting together a nuclear warhead. This site is called “Quds” after Jerusalem, as they believe soon Israel will be destroyed and Jerusalem restored to Muslim rule.
- The second, which makes missile warheads, is dubbed “Marty Mughniyah” after the Hezbollah terrorist who, under the command of the regime, conducted multiple terrorist acts that killed hundreds of Americans and Israelis.
- The third facility is a vast site that houses over 380 missile depots and launching pads
“[The satellite images] suggest the possibility that Iran may in fact be further along in its nuclear weapons program than is generally assumed,” he said. “It is clear they have gone to great lengths to bury and protect high-value assets at this site, which also complicates the possibility of direct military action and illustrates the risks of allowing years to pass while hoping diplomacy will work.
“An accelerating train is harder to slow and takes longer to stop. These images reinforce my concern that Iranian nuclear progress is accelerating,” Trachtenberg said. “The more emphatically the U.S. declares its determination to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear weapons state, the harder it may be to ensure that outcome.”
“Reza Kahlili (who wrote the article revealing the Quds site) has provided the West with one of the most critical pieces of evidence of the Iranian government’s drive to break out its nuclear development into a fully operational capability,” said Maj. Gen. Thomas G. McInerney (Ret.). “All the red lines have been crossed. Beware America, Israel and the West, a nuclear Iran is here!”
McInerney for 35 years served as a pilot, commander and strategic planner in the U.S. Air Force, including as deputy chief of staff for operations and intelligence, Headquarters Pacific Air Forces, and also as vice commander in chief, Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe.
Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, a congressional advisory board, and who has served on the staffs of the Congressional Strategic Posture Commission, the House Armed Services Committee and in the CIA, also reviewed the imagery and information from the source.
“This open-source analysis by itself illustrates that Iran is very serious about building survivable facilities for its nuclear enterprise,” said Pry. “If the Obama administration does not know about this facility, it explodes their credibility. If the Obama administration does already know about this facility, it raises even more serious questions. Have they told Congress about this enormous, heavily defended underground complex and its purpose? Why have they not told the American people? Did the president discuss this matter with Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu – along with his public claim that Iran is ‘more than a year away’ from a nuclear capability?
“Either way,” Pry concluded, “a nuclear Iran is such a grave threat to U.S. and global security that, at minimum, Congress should hold hearings on this matter, find out what the administration really knows and does not know, and whether their judgment about the ‘nuclear red line’ can be trusted to predict when it is about to be crossed.”
Ambassador Hank Cooper and Fritz Ermarth, experienced national security experts who played prominent roles in achieving victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, reviewed the imagery on the new underground facility and the intelligence provided by the source. They both agreed with Pry’s assessment and called for congressional hearings. They believe such hearings should also seek to understand Iran’s underlying goals, its strategy to achieve those goals and appropriate U.S. policies and strategy to counter Iran.
Cooper led arms control negotiations with the U.S.S.R. during the nuclear and space talks and was director of the Strategic Defense Initiative. As an engineer, he helped design hardened underground systems. Ermarth served as chairman of the National Intelligence Council, which writes the National Intelligence Estimates, the most important analytical products of the intelligence community, and served as a special adviser to President Reagan.
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