The main Iranian opposition group, the National Council of the Resistance of Iran revealed on Thursday a delegation of North Korean experts in nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles visited a military site near Tehran in April amid talks between world powers and Iran over its nuclear program.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) exposed Iran’s uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and a heavy water facility at Arak in 2002 and has many other revelations.
Iran and six world powers are trying to meet a self-imposed June 30 deadline to reach a comprehensive deal, but issues remain including the monitoring and verification measures to ensure Iran could not pursue a clandestine nuclear weapons program.
Citing information obtained from sources inside Iran by of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, the Paris-based NCRI said the seven person North Korean Defence Ministry team were in Iran for the last week of April. It was the third time in 2015 that North Koreans had been to Iran and a nine person delegation was due to return in June, it said.
“The delegates included nuclear experts, nuclear warhead experts and experts in various elements of ballistic missiles including guidance systems,” NCRI said.
The information obtained by the PMOI (MEK) network is based on dozens of reports from various sources inside of the clerical regime, in particular from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Ministry of Defense (MoD), the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), which is in charge of working on the weaponization aspect of the nuclear program, and also the Aerospace Industries Organization (AIO).
Due to high security sensitivities, the nuclear and missile delegations from North Korea both enter and leave Iran in total secrecy. The revelations provided detailed information on the exact location of the place where North Koreans stayed in the country.
Those that visited this year stayed in the special guest house of the AIO near a Hemat Industries site in the Khojeir area, located in North-east of Tehran.
Mr. Shahin Gobadi, PMOI spokesman, said: “the above information reveals another aspect of the Iranian regime’s secret nuclear weapons program. It is another indication that so far as the clerical regime is concerned, it has no intention of giving up its nuclear weapons program and that the drive to acquire nuclear weapons remains at the core of the regime’s nuclear program. This is the message of extensive cooperation with North Korea and presence of Tehran’s key nuclear figure during North Korean nuclear test.”
