New secret Iran nuclear site reported in tunnels under mountain

Special to WorldTribune.com

LONDON — The opposition has reported another underground nuclear facility in Iran.

The Mujahadeen Khalq, known as MEK, reported a secret Iranian nuclear
facility northeast of Teheran. In a statement, Mujahadeen, which disclosed
Iran’s nuclear program more than a decade ago, said the latest facility
consisted of tunnels beneath a mountain near Damavand, 50 kilometers from
the Iranian capital.

Mount Damavand, Iran  /Alamy
Mount Damavand, Iran. /Alamy

“The organization of the People’s Mujahadeen of Iran has discovered credible evidence of a secret new nuclear site, gathered over a year by 50 sources in various parts of the regime,” National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition that includes Mujahadeen, said.

In a statement issued in Paris on July 11, the opposition said the Teheran regime has completed the facility near Damavand. Mujahadeen, which released satellite photographs, said each of the tunnels contained an external depot for shipments of construction and nuclear equipment.

“The codename of the project is Ma’adane-e Charq [mine of the east] or
Project Kossar,” Mujahadeen said. “This site is hidden in a series of
tunnels under a mountain near the town of Damavand.”

The opposition, believed to cooperate with Western intelligence
agencies, identified the head of the project as Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a senior
commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The International
Atomic Energy Agency has for years unsuccessfully sought to interview
Fakhrizadeh on Iran’s nuclear program.

“The site consists of four tunnels and has been constructed by a group
of engineering and construction companies associated with the engineering
arms of the Defense Ministry and the IRGC,” Mujahadeen said. “Two of the
tunnels are about 550 meters in length, and they have a total of six giant
halls.”

Mujahadeen, which claimed sources inside Iran’s nuclear program, said
Project Kossar would enter a second stage. The stage was expected to consist
of the construction of up to 30 tunnels and depots.

“These revelations demonstrate once again that the mullah regime has
no intention of stopping or even suspending the development of a nuclear
weapon,” Mujahadeen said.