https://iranwire.com/en/features/10863
On the anniversary of the assassination of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, and on the eve of the resumption of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1, Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, a former head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency (2011-2013), confirmed that Fakhrizadeh was active in a program to build nuclear weapons. This is the first such admission from a government official in the history of the Islamic Republic.
Eighteen years ago, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) launched its first investigations into possible Iran’s nuclear program. The doubts and questions have lingered ever since. The Islamic Republic has constantly maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, in deference to a fatwa from Ayatollah Khomeini that banned the production, stockpiling and using of nuclear weapons. Of course, in Shia tradition, anybody whose chosen “source of emulation” is not Khamenei is not obligated to follow his fatwas.
In 2003, then-IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei visited the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility to assess the status of Iran’s nuclear program. He then met with President Mohammad Khatami, and was astonished by Khatami’s knowledge of very technical aspects of uranium enrichment. This made him suspicious: “President Khatami, a cleric by training, had just referred to a means of cold-testing a centrifuge without using nuclear material. His point was that Iran had not violated any nuclear reporting requirements. But why would Khatami know about testing with inert gas? I wondered,” wrote ElBaradei in his book Age of Deception: Nuclear Diplomacy in Treacherous Times.
During the same visit to Iran, ElBaradei also met with Khatami’s predecessor Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was then chairman of the Guardian Council. In his nuclear memoir, ElBaradei wrote that Hashemi Rafsanjani had told him: “I saw so many of our people killed with chemical weapons during Iran-Iraq war. I couldn’t be advocating dialogue among civilizations and at the same time developing nuclear weapons.”
Later, ElBaradei would reflect: “I was told by a number of people, including President Mubarak of Egypt, that according to Shiite theology it is sometimes acceptable to deceive for the right cause. The concept is called taqqiya [dissimulation], meaning to protect oneself or those under one’s care from harm. I made it clear to our Iranian counterpart that regardless of the origins of this behavior, their denials and on-ongoing cover-ups had deeply hurt their credibility with the international community. From the outset they had dug a hole that would undermine their own diplomatic endeavors, what I referred to as starting out with a confidence deficit.”…
The Mastermind Behind the Nuclear Weapons Project
Now, close to two decades after ElBaradei raised concerns about a “confidence deficit”, ex-Atomic Energy Agency chief Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani has become the latest Iranian official to evidence why such a deficit exists. Abbasi-Davani gave an interview with state newspaper Iran in which he openly stated that not only had Mohsen Fakhrizadeh spearheaded efforts to build a nuclear weapon, but others with the same “mindset and worldview” as he were involved in Iran’s nuclear program today.
“It is quite clear that our restraint about nuclear weapons was based on the explicit fatwa by the exalted Supreme Leader,” Abbasi-Davani said. “But Fakhrizadeh created the system, and his motive was not only defending our country – because our country supports the [anti-Israel] Resistance Front. When you get into these issues, the Zionists become sensitive. And it wasn’t only Mr. Fakhrizadeh. There are others at the managerial level of our organization who have the same characteristics.”…
Talks on reviving the JCPOA have resumed in the Austrian capital today. But these revelations, by the ex-head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency, no less, underscore the need for much stricter supervision of states that do not feel bound by international conventions such as the Non-Proliferation Treaty. One such state is Iran, which not only has a track record of nuclear cover-ups but considers lying a religious duty if convenient.
On the anniversary of the assassination of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, and on the eve of the resumption of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1, Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, a former head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency (2011-2013), confirmed that Fakhrizadeh was active in a program to build nuclear weapons. This is the first such admission from a government official in the history of the Islamic Republic.
Eighteen years ago, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) launched its first investigations into possible Iran’s nuclear program. The doubts and questions have lingered ever since. The Islamic Republic has constantly maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, in deference to a fatwa from Ayatollah Khomeini that banned the production, stockpiling and using of nuclear weapons. Of course, in Shia tradition, anybody whose chosen “source of emulation” is not Khamenei is not obligated to follow his fatwas.
In 2003, then-IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei visited the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility to assess the status of Iran’s nuclear program. He then met with President Mohammad Khatami, and was astonished by Khatami’s knowledge of very technical aspects of uranium enrichment. This made him suspicious: “President Khatami, a cleric by training, had just referred to a means of cold-testing a centrifuge without using nuclear material. His point was that Iran had not violated any nuclear reporting requirements. But why would Khatami know about testing with inert gas? I wondered,” wrote ElBaradei in his book Age of Deception: Nuclear Diplomacy in Treacherous Times.
During the same visit to Iran, ElBaradei also met with Khatami’s predecessor Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was then chairman of the Guardian Council. In his nuclear memoir, ElBaradei wrote that Hashemi Rafsanjani had told him: “I saw so many of our people killed with chemical weapons during Iran-Iraq war. I couldn’t be advocating dialogue among civilizations and at the same time developing nuclear weapons.”
Later, ElBaradei would reflect: “I was told by a number of people, including President Mubarak of Egypt, that according to Shiite theology it is sometimes acceptable to deceive for the right cause. The concept is called taqqiya [dissimulation], meaning to protect oneself or those under one’s care from harm. I made it clear to our Iranian counterpart that regardless of the origins of this behavior, their denials and on-ongoing cover-ups had deeply hurt their credibility with the international community. From the outset they had dug a hole that would undermine their own diplomatic endeavors, what I referred to as starting out with a confidence deficit.”…
The Mastermind Behind the Nuclear Weapons Project
Now, close to two decades after ElBaradei raised concerns about a “confidence deficit”, ex-Atomic Energy Agency chief Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani has become the latest Iranian official to evidence why such a deficit exists. Abbasi-Davani gave an interview with state newspaper Iran in which he openly stated that not only had Mohsen Fakhrizadeh spearheaded efforts to build a nuclear weapon, but others with the same “mindset and worldview” as he were involved in Iran’s nuclear program today.
“It is quite clear that our restraint about nuclear weapons was based on the explicit fatwa by the exalted Supreme Leader,” Abbasi-Davani said. “But Fakhrizadeh created the system, and his motive was not only defending our country – because our country supports the [anti-Israel] Resistance Front. When you get into these issues, the Zionists become sensitive. And it wasn’t only Mr. Fakhrizadeh. There are others at the managerial level of our organization who have the same characteristics.”…
Talks on reviving the JCPOA have resumed in the Austrian capital today. But these revelations, by the ex-head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency, no less, underscore the need for much stricter supervision of states that do not feel bound by international conventions such as the Non-Proliferation Treaty. One such state is Iran, which not only has a track record of nuclear cover-ups but considers lying a religious duty if convenient.
