With Israel in the crosshairs over threats to attack Iran’s nuclear sites, a senior foreign policy figure in Tehran suggests Iran might already have the nuclear capability to keep them at bay.
Last month, Iran International reported Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani’s announcement concerning the possession of nuclear weapons by the Iranian regime. Re-elected to parliament in March, the insider politician said:
“[Iran has] achieved nuclear weapons, but we do not announce it. It means our policy is to possess nuclear bombs, but our declared policy is currently within the framework of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). The reason is that when countries want to confront others, their capabilities must be compatible, and Iran’s compatibility with America and Israel means that Iran must have nuclear weapons.”
The Gateway Pundit spoke to Clare Lopez about Ardestani’s remarks. Lopez, founder and president of Lopez Liberty, LLC, and long-time researcher of the Iranian nuclear threat, said, “Considering all the evidence, it’s very plausible.” She explained that Ardestani would not have been allowed to make his statements without, first, the approval of the regime.
In April 2022, on ISCA News, Iranian Majles member Ali Motaheri admitted that “when we [Iran] began our nuclear activity, our goal was indeed to build a bomb, [adding] there is no need to beat around the bush.”
Statements like these, according to Lopez, are examples that “they’re growing bolder and they’re not hiding it anymore.”
In August 2002, Alireza Jafarzadeh, the Deputy Director of the Washington office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), publicly announced the existence of Iran’s clandestine nuclear weapons program. Over decades ago, satellite images of the Natanz uranium enrichment site and the Arak heavy water facility were being shown for the first time at the briefing. “The Washington, D.C., press conference basically blew the lid off Iran’s government,” said Lopez.
In November 2011, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) produced a report about the Iranian nuclear weapons program, identifying all the “possible military dimensions” of the program, Lopez shared. The report revealed, “Iran was working on a project to secure a source of uranium suitable for use in an undisclosed enrichment program, the product of which would be converted into metal for use in the new warhead which was the subject of the missile re-entry vehicle studies.”
What’s more, Lopez pointed out that the 2011 report not only developed “the hemispheres that go into the pit of a bomb,” but was also experimenting with “multipoint implosion point detonators.”
Lopez said a January 2016 raid directed by the Israeli Mossad further confirmed, like the previous IAEA report, that “Iran was actively working on a nuclear weapons program.” In April 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that over 100,000 files were seized in a Tehran warehouse, including those dating back to 2003 to reveal Iran was setting the stage for nuclear warhead development.
With two decades of falsifying information followed by increased public disclosure of their nuclear weapons program, Lopez said, “I don’t think there’s any question they’re building warheads.” But interestingly, she pointed out, “the international community is going to continue to refuse to call it a weapon until that warhead is actually attached to the nose of a missile delivery system.”
“While I believe they have warheads and they have missiles, I think attaching a warhead to the nose of a missile would result in Israel’s final red line,” she warned. “And you better believe they’re watching, [while] the Mossad is working with internal Iranian opposition, like the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), to offer the warning when Iran makes the decision to attach warheads to missiles.”
“When that time comes,” Lopez said, “Israel’s going to have to make quite a decision.”
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