Iran Focus: London, Dec. 21 Iran is building secret underground tunnels where it is carrying out undeclared nuclear weapons activity, according to an Iranian opposition group that has provided reliable information on Tehrans nuclear program in the past. Iran Focus
London, Dec. 21 Iran is building secret underground tunnels where it is carrying out undeclared nuclear weapons activity, according to an Iranian opposition group that has provided reliable information on Tehrans nuclear program in the past.
Hossein Abedini of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) told a conference in London on Tuesday that the concealment projects were personally authorised by Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to urgently inspect the tunnels.
The purpose of the tunnels is to conceal parts of the Tehran regimes atomic and missile programs. The tunnels are particularly used for hiding research centres, workshops, nuclear equipment, and nuclear and missile command and control centres, Abedini said.
He said that the NCRI had thus far received information about 14 locations where such tunnels and underground facilities have been built near Tehran, Isfahan, Qom, and several other cities. He said that construction work on the tunnels was primarily under the direction of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the Defence Ministry. In the IRGC, the Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters, which is the headquarters of the IRGC Engineering Corps, is responsible for execution of the project, he said.
Abedini gave details of several front companies and military departments, and the names of a number of officials involved in the projects.
There were three types of tunnels constructed in the projects, according to the NCRI. Tunnels constructed in mountains are excavated to a certain distance and then branch out into several tunnels. Underground tunnels are constructed vertically into the ground and branch out at a certain depth. Overground tunnels are constructed on the ground and after completion of the support structure, are covered with earth and camouflaged to resemble terrain features such as hills, he said.
The tunnels were constructed with radiation and sound filters. A special lead lining is used in the tunnels to stop any kind of leakage of radiation and sound to the surrounding environment to prevent detection through soil or other environmental samplings on the ground, Abedini added.
In 2002, the NCRI revealed two massive Iranian nuclear sites in Natanz and Arak that were previously undeclared to the IAEA. The NCRI is a coalition of exiled Iranian opposition groups.
