The Islamic Republic of Iran continues to pursue the acquisition of nuclear weapons, not only by stockpiling enriched uranium to near-weapons-grade purity, but also by expanding covert actions in developing weaponization capabilities.
According to information obtained by sources embedded in the Iranian regime and provided to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an opposition group based in Washington, D.C. and Paris, Iran has once again resumed efforts to improve its capabilities. There are signs that it is. detonate a nuclear weapon.
Spearheading Iran's explosive device program is an organization the NCRI has named METFAZ. Recent movements at the previously deactivated facility known as Sanjarian, which is an acronym for Explosive and Impact Technology Research and Expansion Center in Persian, have sparked enormous speculation.
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies has analyzed where Iran's nuclear infrastructure is located. (Foundation for Defense of Democracy)
Iran hides missile, drone program under the guise of commercial front to evade sanctions
Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the US NCRI, told FOX News Digital: “According to our information, METFAZ is expanding its activities, intensifying its activities, and the main focus is basically detonating a nuclear bomb.'' ” he said. “When you make a bomb, you have fissile material at its core, but you need to be able to activate it and detonate it, and that's an advanced process.
“It's important to track what METFAZ is doing, its activities, because it's kind of a yardstick to understand where the entire nuclear weapons program is,” he added.
Iran has at least a dozen sites across the country that specialize in nuclear development, weaponization, research, and heavy water production, but at least two of these sites have It has been suggested that covert operations are on the rise, including Sanjarian. , once one of Iran's premier weaponization facilities.
The Sanjarian ruins are located approximately 40 miles east of Tehran. Once the center of Iran's nuclear program Under the program, known as Plan Amad, it was thought to be largely inactive from 2009 until the end of 2020, following intense international opposition to Iran's nuclear program.
The Sanjarian site, where NCRI announced in 2017 that its operations had been transferred to Palchin's Plan 6. (Image provided by: NCRI)
However, by October 2020, new activity, allegedly disguised as a film team, had returned to the area, first captured through satellite images, which the Islamic Republic reportedly used to , justified why vehicles were regularly parked outside the top of the former nuclear facility.
According to the same verified information, trees were planted along the entrance road to the site in 2022, effectively blocking satellite images from surveillance vehicles stationed there, but then a security gate was opened in May 2023. was believed to have been installed. Institute for Science and International Security.
Sanjarian in 2024 (Image provided by: NCRI)
Now, according to details provided to NCRI this month by sources on the ground, a top nuclear expert has been seen visiting the site regularly since April 2024, and is known as Irvin Kimia Abuzar. They are believed to be operating under a front company. It has become an alliance with the oil and gas industry, the activities of which Iran has long sought to hide.
Israel focuses on Iran's nuclear facilities amid reports that Trump Mars will move to halt Tehran's nuclear program
Jafarzadeh said one of the executives of the Arbin Kimia Abuzar Company is Saeed Borji, a prominent member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps since 1980 and long-time leader of METFAZ.
METFAZ is part of Iran's Defense Innovation and Research Organization, which is widely known by security experts as the leading organization in Iran's nuclear program and is involved in new research into leaky bridge (EWB) detonators. It is suspected that they are using Sanjarian's premises.
Iran has previously attempted to conceal its EBW detonator program. System first invented in the 1940s There are plans to deploy nuclear warheads, but Expanding to non-military fieldsunder activities related to the oil industry.
The United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), stated in a 2015 report: Focus on Iranian detonator development It was “an integral part of the program to develop an implosion nuclear explosive device.”
Iran also claimed at the May 20, 2014 meeting that the detonator program, which dates back to 2000 to 2003, was linked to Tehran's aerospace industry and was necessary to “prevent explosion accidents.” It also highlighted how the IAEA tried to cover up its plans. The decision was judged to be “inconsistent with the deadline and unrelated to the detonator development program.”
Engineers work on the secondary circuit of the Arak heavy water reactor as officials and media visit the site in December 2019. (Iran Atomic Energy Organization/AP)
At the same meeting in 2014, Iran claimed that “around 2007, the country's oil and gas industry was aware of the requirement for EBW detonators in the development of deep borehole cutting equipment.”
Experts say the collapse of Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime is a strategic blow to Iran and Russia
The IAEA said that while the application of EBW detonators fired with “submicrosecond simultaneity” is “consistent with special industrial practices,” the Iranian-developed detonators “have characteristics associated with nuclear explosive devices.” “There is,” he said.
“The Iranian regime has essentially been using deceptive tactics for many years, including lying, stalling, pretending and dragging. [their feet]Asked about the report, Jafarzadeh said, “It's a waste of time,” adding, “That's how they deal with the IAEA, with the goal of moving forward with their own nuclear weapons program without any accountability.” ''.
The IAEA did not respond to Fox News Digital's questions about NCRI's latest findings shared with the nuclear watchdog this week, and it remains unclear what advances and research Iran continues to pursue in the explosive device field. It is unknown.
The launch of a Simurgh (“Phoenix”) rocket is shown from the Imam Khomeini Space Launch Terminal in Iran's Semnan Province, December 6, 2024. (Iranian Ministry of Defense, via AP)
“While the international community and the IAEA have focused primarily on the amount and enrichment level of fissile uranium in Tehran's bomb arsenal, the central part – weaponization – has continued to go largely unscrutinized. ” Jafarzadeh told FOX. News Digital.
NCRI also discovered that METFAZ, which operates out of a military base known as Parchin, about 30 miles southeast of Tehran, is expanding its Plan 6 complex where it tests and manufactures explosives.
Parchin consists of several military-industrial complexes, Target of Israeli airstrike in October 2024. The airstrike destroyed “several buildings” in the complex, including the “High Explosive Test Chamber” known as Tarehan 2, the Institute for Science and International Security said.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Mr. Jafarzadeh said Iran's multi-layered approach to its nuclear program, which relies on networks run under the guise of private companies, deceptive operations, and immense ambiguity, has made it difficult for agencies specializing in nuclear security, like the IAEA, to Even he said it was becoming difficult to track Iran's nuclear program.
“The administration has used deceptive tactics to thwart any verification mechanisms and has yet to provide the IAEA with the opportunity or means to obtain a satisfactory response to the investigation it has filed,” he told Fox News Digital. No,” he said. “Our revelations today show that the administration has not been transparent about its plans to build an atomic bomb and is moving toward building it at a rapid pace.”
NCRI confirmed that neither the Sanjarian site nor Palchin's Plan 6 have been inspected by the IAEA.
