Dissident: Tehran Has 4,000 Centrifuges

[DoYouEverWonder]

August 9, 2005

VIENNA, Austria -- Iran has manufactured about 4,000 centrifuges capable of enriching uranium to weapons grade, an exiled Iranian dissident who helped uncover nearly two decades of covert nuclear activity in 2002 said Tuesday.

Alireza Jafarzadeh told The Associated Press the centrifuges -- which he said are unknown to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency -- are ready to be installed at Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz.

Jafarzadeh, who runs Strategic Policy Consulting, a Washington-based think tank focusing on Iran and Iraq, said the information -- which he described as "very recent" -- came from sources within the Tehran regime who have proven accurate in the past.

The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, which was convening an emergency meeting on Iran later Tuesday, did not immediately comment on the centrifuge allegations. The agency previously had said it was aware of the existence of 164 centrifuges at Natanz.

<snip>

None of Jafarzadeh's claims could be independently verified immediately. (Of course not, then why put this story out on the wires?)


http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-iran-nuclear-centrifuges,0,7045018.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines


Jeez, here we go again. Is this guy any relation to Chalabi?

[pinniped]

1. So, when is the Iran/Niger(ia) yellow-cake story due out?

Who will step up to the plate to investigate the allegations and get their wife's covert identity blown?

[happyslug]

29. No Need, Iran has its own Uranium sources

Thus all that is needed to be claim is that their are mining their own Uranium to make a bomb to hit the US.

Iran Uranium Mines:

http://www.useu.be/Categories/GlobalAffairs/Feb1003USIranUranium.html
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iran/2003/iran-030210-351849c6.htm
http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/Iran/3119_3184.html

[Toots]

38. Is the President of Iran also the new Hitler now that saddam is in stir

How many mass graves are we going to hear about next? Do Americans even know who is in charge in Iran?

[keopeli]

2. Ah, the drums of war

...not the real drums, of course. These are recorded drums...actually they're synthesized drums that are recorded.

Can you say K O O L A I D! Oh yeah!

If Bush makes a strike in the next year for the mid-term election, it's going to be Iran.

[Lerkfish]

27. amazing, itn't it? they never come up with new tactics, just the same

old ones

[bklyncowgirl]

3. Curveball II?

This all sounds all too familiar.

[rodeodance]

4. well, at least this dissedents name is not Charbali

[wli]

5. another Ghorbanifar fabrication?

He is often described as an "Iranian dissident."

ON EDIT: duh, it's attributed to someone else

[H2O Man]

9. I would guess

that we will find the two gentlemen are connected.

[NNN0LHI]

6. This boys story improves over time. Hmmm n/t

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

7. Didn't this guy used to be considered a terrorist?

Or at least the organisation he worked for? This guy sounds like he has an agenda.

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Good memory

Here's some info about him joining the FAUX News team:

Employee's True Face
Background of a Fox News Analyst
Iran Interlink, February 2004



Ali Reza Jafarzadeh, frontman for the MKO and the NCRI in the United States, is still being introduced by the Fox News Network as their independent Iran analyst. Fox News' insistence on using this individual has prompted ridicule by many in the media and in political circles. Fox News has clearly decided that using this notorious man is more important for their pay masters than maintaining their reputation as a serious broadcaster. Or it could be that the Network has no other choice in its decision making except to consent to this scandal. Whatever the reason, Fox News has refused to answer any questions about it. The company is already under investigation about its code of conduct and connections with terrorist organizations.

For those who have still any doubts about the issue, below is a brief biography of the notorious terrorist whom Fox News introduces as its analyst.

Alireza Jafarzadeh was born in Mashad (Iran) and moved to the USA before the 1979 revolution in Iran. He began there as a student of Civil Engineering. But he soon became engaged with the Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) in the US. The MKO is designated by the US, UK, EU and many other countries as a terrorist entity in part because of the MKO's affiliation with the regime of Saddam Hussein. MKO activities include the massacre of Iraqi Kurds and Marsh Arabs in March 1991 after Gulf War I, and co-operation with Iraqi Intelligence in hiding WMDs from UN weapons inspectors. Jafarzadeh worked for the MKO in several countries including Iraq. He was promoted to the position of spokesman for the MKO in the US which then gave him a position as member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the MKO's political wing, which is also designated in the US as a terrorist entity.

Jafarzadeh quickly became a devoted member of the MKO and on the order of the organization's Ideological (or cult) Leader, Massoud Rajavi, married Robabeh Sadeghi of Babol, Iran, after she fled her country in 1986. In 1990, Massoud Rajavi ordered all MKO members to divorce for ideological reasons. Jafarzadeh and Sadeghi, were divorced on his command.

http://www.iran-interlink.org/files/info/Jafarzadeh%20bio.htm


This guy sounds like a real piece of work.

[leftchick]

23. good lord....

this would be laughable if we weren't going to war with another country over it.

:(

[Bhaisahab]

10. Dissident: Tehran Has 4,000 Centrifuges

VIENNA, Austria -- Iran has manufactured about 4,000 centrifuges capable of enriching uranium to weapons grade, an exiled Iranian dissident who helped uncover nearly two decades of covert nuclear activity in 2002 said Tuesday.

Alireza Jafarzadeh told The Associated Press the centrifuges -- which he said are unknown to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency -- are ready to be installed at Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz.

Jafarzadeh, who runs Strategic Policy Consulting, a Washington-based think tank focusing on Iran and Iraq, said the information -- which he described as "very recent" -- came from sources within the Tehran regime who have proven accurate in the past.

CONTINUED:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-iran-nuclear-centrifuges,0,7045018.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines

so there he is! the iranian chalabi :)

[bribri16]

11. So what! If we can have them, so can they! n/t

[Bob3]

12. We've heard this song before haven't we?

N/T

[StrafingMoose]

13. Kind of like this Chalabi guy...

Who told the USA Saddam had horrible WMDs and that they would be cheered as heroes once on Iraqi soil :rofl:

[Lochloosa]

14. and the Aluminum Tubes to go with them.....

I'm just saying

[punpirate]

15. Cooperativeresearch says...

... Positions that Alireza Jafarzadeh has held:

* President of Strategic Policy Consulting (2003-)
* Spokesman for (NCRI) Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK) (1997-)
* Fox News Middle East analyst (2003-present)

Pro-Iranian sites describe him as a terrorist supporting Saddam Hussein.

But, he himself left Iran in 1979, so he can't have first-hand knowledge of this.

If he's MEK in the US, then there's strong likelihood he has some connections to one or more of the intelligence services.

The other matter is still that the centrifuges can be used for reactor fuel enrichment, and that the IAEA has been allowed to install monitoring cameras (that news is from yesterday). The IAEA certainly knows about Natanz, and were the Iranians to refuse them access to inspect, that would be cause for concern.

The IAEA said this in February:

A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, conducted a routine inspection of Natanz this month. The IAEA says it has no evidence that Iran is conducting weapons work at the site.

"Natanz is a frozen facility," said Mark Gwozdecky, an IAEA spokesman in Vienna. "The inspectors' job is to ensure that the suspension is in force."

The remaining issue from that time was visas which would permit IAEA personnel to come and go into and out of Iran at will. Don't know if that's been resolved yet.

This sure looks as if there's a renewed attempt to portray the IAEA as incompetent and incapable of determining subterfuge by Iran--just as was attempted before the invasion of Iraq.

Cheers.

[DoYouEverWonder]

16. Excuse me - dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1687415

thanks

[Bhaisahab]

17. oops. sorreh! :)

[DoYouEverWonder]

18. No problem

Funny, seems both us thought Chalabi as soon as we saw the story. I didn't even know who this MFer was and it turns out that he is Chalabi's clone.

[Theduckno2]

19. Some more breathless reporting from the MSM!

A single unconfirmed source and no attempt to put the allegation in perspective. How long would it take those alleged 4,000 centrifuges to generate enough fuel to fully load their nuclear core? MY guess is the 168 declared centrifuges would take a very long time to produce enough fuel to load their reactor and may not be able to keep up with an operational reactor.
Putting the report in context is what I would expect of "good" journalism, not breathlessly reporting something from a single unconfirmed source.

edit: spelling

[DoYouEverWonder]

20. They don't care if their headlines are true or not

just as long as enough sheeple read them.

[Peace Patriot]

21. The Bush Cartel is driving them to see to their own defense, and,

...if that is what they are doing--getting nukes--I can hardly blame them for it. The Bush Cartel is a criminal enterprise that has gotten control of OUR nuclear arsenal and the biggest military machine in human history, and is clearly without conscience and without any legal or other restraint. They will do what they want to, for their own fascist, war profiteering purposes, and, in fact, are VERY LIKELY to invade or nuke Iran. The Iranians have only to look at Iraq to see that NOBODY can stop them--not Europe's most powerful countries, not Russia, not China, all of whom opposed the war on Iraq. What can a small, poor country like Iran do to protect itself? They have a healthier country and stronger fighting force than Iraq (Iraq was a pushover, after several wars and 12 years of sanctions, peripheral bombings, and elimination of its air force). But nukes or biowarfare would nullify Iran's fighting force. So they need a DETERRENT--nukes. And they have every legal right to do it. They are under no sanctions or treaties that forbid it.

Israel has nukes. The Bush Cartel has nukes--and has brutally occupied Iran's neighbor--and is getting more bellicose with threats every day. And there is only one thing that the Bush Cartel seems to understand--that is raw, cruel, incinerating power.

Actually, there is one entity in the world that could restrain these madmen in the White House, and that is us, the sovereign people of the United States, for whom the Bush Cartel supposedly works. Us. The owners of this country.

But there is only one way to set things right, here at home, that I can see--and that is election system reform. We must throw Bushite electronic voting companies, and their secret, proprietary vote tabulation software, out of the election business, and reclaim our right to vote.

And let's hope that God restrains their hand until we can get that done.

58% of the American people opposed the Iraq war BEFORE the invasion. I'll never forget that stat. Feb. '03. 58%! That's a big majority. In an election, it would be called a landslide. And that was before all the lies were exposed, and the true costs and madness of it were known. It's much greater now. Almost no one supports this war. Yet it goes on and on--now with fresh threats of additional invasions.

The truth is staring us in the face. The great majority of Americans have been DISENFRANCHISED. The will of the majority is not being respected. We have no "consent of the governed."

We must restore the integrity of our election system, and get back control of OUR country. It's up to us. No one else can do it. And OUR VOTE IS OUR POWER. That's WHY they took it away--and are now "counting" our votes in secret, behind the closed door of "trade secret" software. No matter who we vote for it will always come out Bush until we remove Bushite voting machine companies from the loop. THEY picked our president. We must get that power back. We must! The future of the planet may depend on it.

Read Carl Sagan's "The Cold and the Dark." Even a limited nuclear exchange will likely kill all life on earth, due to massive dust clouds and alteration of the climate. That is what the Bush Cartel is risking, without our consent, and in defiance of the whole world.

[4MoreYearsOfHell]

22. Well, at least we now know

where Saddam hid them.

[bushisanidiot]

24. Well I guess we attacked the wrong country. Oopsie daisy! so sorry

for your tens of thousands dead civilians, Iraq..

that whole "shock and awe" thing was just a simple misunderstanding. you don't mind, do you? oh, and we still get your oil and a permanent military base in your country, don't we?

[Ripley]

25. Are they hidden under Rose Bushes?

And are they getting the yellow-cake from Niger?

[GoBlue]

26. FOUR THOUSAND; sounds so threatening...

and it's a nice even number. Is the media really that credulous or are they simply willing accomplices? Either way they're being foolish.

[TahitiNut]

31. And nowhere do they note that it takes hundreds/thousands in an array ...

... to enrich uranium to weapons or reactor grade. Nor does the article estimate the rate at which a given array size can produce enough enriched uranium to fuel a reactor or bomb, a rate that might rersult in a production capacity measured in months or years for just one reactor. The uninformed reader is left with the illicit impression that 4,000 is somehow a "proliferation" of such devices when, in fact, it may be unremarkable when one considers university research and a small nuclear energy industry. The deliberate absence of any balanced context is abominable "journalism."

[maxrandb]

28. Rummy Has the Receipts!

There in that pile of papers they won't release from the Reagan and Bush I archives.

[K-W]

30. Imagine if they launched all 4,000 centrifuges at once.

America would be toast.

[BlueEyedSon]

32. Is he named "Curveball"... or "Bob Chalabi'?

[Walt Starr]

33. It's like deja vu all over again!

Subsitite "Ahmed Chalabi" for "Alireza Jafarzadeh" and replace a simple "n" with a "q" and I've read this story before!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

34. The NeoCons are following the same steps they followed against Iraq.

[sam sarrha]

35. he just wants to come to America .....hell i'd tell a bigger wopper to get

into Canada..!!!:rofl:

[BrotherBuzz]

36. I wonder if Alireza Jafarzadeh and Chalabi are visiting Crawford soon

Like maybe Thursday when Rumsfeld and Rice join the encampment? I imagine they all desire to compare notes.

I"m just saying....:shrug:

[pseudostar]

37. That's it...

That's it I fucking give up.

Why start another pointless war that we really can't win? Let's just nuke the whole middle east and hope they actually do have WMDs that they could nuke Israel with, a stray nuke hitting pakistan AND India and we can finally stop fucking around and live through the last scene of Dr. Strangelove.

C'mon Bush. Are you gonna start a global thermonuclear war or are ya a Tic Tac Toe playing peacenik pussy?


...Im not sure how much of this post was sarcasm.

[Minstrel Boy]

39. They're using the centrifuges as incubators, and

dumping babies out of them!

To War!

[seemslikeadream]

42. Hey I'm watching you

10:09

http://eclectech.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/b3ta/sheepstalk.gif

[seemslikeadream]

40. I won't believe it till I read it in Judy's blog

[daleo]

41. Is this guy's name Curveball?

Even though Judith Miller is indisposed, propaganda will get out.