(Sunday Telegraph-UK) Philip Sherwell - Iran's leaders have built a secret underground emergency command center beneath the Abbas Abad district in north Tehran as they prepare for a confrontation with the West over their illicit nuclear program. The recently completed command center is connected by tunnels to other government compounds near the Mossala prayer ground. The Revolutionary Guard has overseen the development of subterranean chambers and tunnels - some more than half a mile long and an estimated 35ft high and wide - at sites across the country for research and development work on nuclear and rocket programs. The Iranian regime is also reviewing its contingency plans to attack tankers and American naval forces in the Persian Gulf and to mine the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of world oil production passes each day. The naval wing of the Revolutionary Guard has in recent years practiced "swarming" raids, using its flotilla of small rapid-attack boats to simulate assaults on commercial vessels and U.S. warships, according to Ken Timmerman, an American expert on Iran.
2006-03-13 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive