Cablegate: Iran Exile Group Says New Regime Determined To
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENNA 002684
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
DEPARTMENT FOR NP/MNA, NEA, EUR/PGI, EUR/ERA, EUR/AGS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KNNP MNUC PREL PGOV ETTC IR AU UNSC EUN
SUBJECT: IRAN EXILE GROUP SAYS NEW REGIME DETERMINED TO
BUILD NUCLEAR WEAPONS
REFS: A) VIENNA 2254 B) VIENNA 2270
This message is sensitive but unclassified.
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The Paris-based National Council of
Resistance of Iran (NCRI) claimed at an August 8 press
conference in Vienna that the new Iranian regime was
determined to continue its nuclear program "to build the
bomb." An NCRI official argued that the "cat and mouse
game" with the IAEA and Western negotiators was designed
to buy time and Western concessions for the new regime.
He called for immediate referral of the dispute to the UN
Security Council. The official quoted what he said were
internal Iranian government documents to support his
allegations. Two exiled Iranian nuclear experts who
attended the press conference underlined the NCRI's
accusations against the new Iranian regime. End Summary.
2. (SBU) NCRI spokesman Dr. Farid Soleimani and Iranian
expatriate scientists Dr. Ali Reza Assar and Dr.
Manouchehr Fakhimi held a well-attended press conference
in Vienna on August 8 to air allegations against the new
Iranian regime. According to the Iranian exile group:
-- The new Iranian regime is continuing to pursue a
clandestine nuclear program. The claims about the
program being dedicated to civil energy production, they
said, are "a blatant lie;" Iran's oil and gas reserves
render the cover story of a civilian program absurd.
-- The IAEA is "being fooled" by the new Iranian regime,
as centrifuges are shuffled from one site to another.
-- This "cat and mouse game" with the West only serves to
buy time and concessions from the EU.
-- The EU and U.S. should get tough with Iran and refer
the matter immediately to the UN Security Council.
-- Placing the Iranian exile group "People's Mujaheddin"
on international terrorist lists was "a major mistake."
"Internal" Iranian Government Report
------------------------------------
3. (SBU) NCRI spokesman Soleimani referred to an
internal Revolutionary Guard report entitled "Appraisal
of Two Years of Talks with the EU," which refers to
assembling "thousands of centrifuges." The regime
applauds itself on a successful strategy vis-a-vis the
EU, which allowed Iran to continue its nuclear program
while winning important concessions from the EU.
Further, the internal report refers to the "weak reaction
by the EU in May 2005" and "weak language by El Baradei
in June 2005" as major successes of Iran's "appeasement
strategy." According to Soleimani, the report concludes,
"the EU and the U.S. must now accommodate our demands."
NCRI Assesses Impact of Ahmadinejad Election
--------------------------------------------
4. (SBU) According to the NCRI panel, Ahmadinejad's
election as President "has clearly led to a
militarization of Iranian politics." For example, the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Council (IRGC) was now
"increasingly acting as a political party. The IRGC was
now in charge of security, police, and intelligence
agencies, and crackdowns on demonstrators have become
more severe than before." The NCRI predicts that the new
regime will now include Revolutionary Guard members in
top government positions. Further, Iran's new regime was
"determined to push its agenda in Iraq" by launching a
"vast campaign to empower fundamentalists there."
Nuclear Program
---------------
5. (SBU) According to the NCRI spokesman, there is no
doubt that the new regime will speed up plans to develop
nuclear capabilities, since "orders have gone out... to
have all resources go to the nuclear program." NCRI
spokesman Soleimani said that Revolutionary Guard
Brigadier General Jafari Sahroudi, who allegedly was
involved in the 1989 assassination of three Kurdish
leaders in Vienna (reftels), has assumed a key role in
this scheme. Soleimani stated that the Iranian nuclear
program was "completely under the control of the
Revolutionary Guards." He noted several nuclear research
facilities to watch in addition to the known sites,
especially two campuses of Malek Ashtar University.
6. (SBU) Soleimani quoted from an Iranian parliament
(Majlis) report dated February 2004, "obtained from
sources inside Iran," which showed the Majlis had not
known of the clandestine nuclear program at that time.
Exile Scientists Confirm Plans For Nuclear Program
--------------------------------------------- -----
7. (SBU) Iranian scientist Dr. Ali Reza Assar, a former
Revolutionary Guard advisor, added that, based on his
contacts with Revolutionary Guard officials in 1986-1987,
it was clear that a secret uranium enrichment program was
already underway at that time. He said he had frequently
overheard statements from Iranian officials that "we need
a nuclear deterrent." The revolutionary government had
earmarked "hundreds of millions of dollars" in the 1980s
for development of nuclear weapons.
8. (SBU) Iranian geologist Manouchehr Fakhimi called
Iran's claim that its oil reserves would soon be depleted
"absurd." Iran had proven oil reserves to last at least
75 years and natural gas reserves for 250 years. Fakhimi
claimed that regime was continuing plutonium production
with centrifuges and was seeking supplies of beryllium,
which, in combination with copper and polonium 210, can
be used to build nuclear bombs.
VAN VOORST