[Wall Street Journal] Marc Champion and Jay Solomon - The National Council for Resistance in Iran (NCRI), the Iranian opposition group that first exposed Iran's nuclear-fuel program, said a U.S. intelligence analysis is correct that Tehran shut down its weaponization program in 2003, but claims that the program was relocated and restarted in 2004. According to the NCRI, Iran's Supreme National Security Council decided to shut down its most important center for nuclear-weapons research in eastern Tehran, called Lavisan-Shian, in August 2003. Lavisan was broken into 11 fields of research, including development of a nuclear trigger and of the technology to shape weapons-grade uranium into a warhead. At the same meeting, the council decided to disperse pieces of the research to a number of locations around Iran. By the time international nuclear inspectors were allowed access to Lavisan, the buildings had been torn down and the ground bulldozed. "They scattered the weaponization program to other locations and restarted in 2004," said Mohammad Mohaddessin, NCRI foreign affairs chief.
2007-12-12 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive