(Washington Post) Adam Taylor - Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was a key figure in Iran's drive for a nuclear weapon. He was described in Iranian media as head of the Research and Innovation Organization in the Iranian Defense Ministry. As a former leader of Iran's military-linked Physics Research Center, he was involved in drawing up plans and acquiring parts for Iran's first uranium enrichment plant, according to UN officials. He has been recognized as the leader of Iran's secret nuclear weapons program, known as the AMAD Plan. Iranian documents stolen by Israeli operatives and smuggled out in 2018 portray Fakhrizadeh as the project's leader since 1998. After the nuclear weapons program was formally halted in 2003, Fakhrizadeh continued to supervise successor organizations that continued to employ most of the AMAD Plan's scientists in conducting nuclear-related research, U.S. and Israeli analysts say. A June 2020 report by the U.S. State Department stated that workers in the nuclear weapons program had been kept employed on projects with "weaponization-relevant dual-use technical activities" under the leadership of Fakhrizadeh.
2020-11-30 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive