Washington - Iran resumed its atomic weapons programme in 2004 after dismantling its main facility for developing nuclear arms the previous year, an Iranian dissident said Tuesday. Alireza Jafarzadeh said the Iranian government dismantled the main facility for its nuclear weapons activities and decentralized the effort into several locations in anticipation of international UN inspections.
Jafarzadeh's assertions contradict a US intelligence report released last week that said Iran halted its nuclear weapons programme in the fall of 2003 and that the US intelligence community had a moderate level of confidence it had not resumed the work as of mid-2007.
Jafarzadeh was once the spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which has since been classified by the US government as a terrorist organization.
Jafarzadeh revealed through sources in Iran the Tehran regime's secret nuclear facilities at Natanz and Arak in 2002, resulting in inspections from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations' nuclear monitoring outfit.
After the US report on December 3 called the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), Jafarzadeh said he checked with his sources to reconfirm conclusions that the Iranian government spread out its nuclear weapons activities to hide them from inspectors and transferred oversight to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
"These are the facts we are getting on the ground," Jafarzadeh told reporters.
The National Intelligence Estimate signalled a major shift on US held views of Iran's nuclear ambitions, but President George W Bush said it will not change his hardline stance on Iran because the Islamic state continues to pursue uranium enrichment, which could be used to build a bomb, in defiance of the UN Security Council.
A spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the 16 US spy agencies, said the office stands by the NIE's findings and could not say whether Jafarzadeh's claims will be taken into account.
"We stand by the product we produced," Ross Feinstein said.
Bush has pledged to move ahead with proposing a third Security Council resolution placing more sanctions on Iran. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the five permanent members of the council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - plus Germany will consult via telephone on Tuesday to discuss the resolution.
China and Russia have been reluctant to endorse more sanctions on Iran, and the NIE is likely to bolster their position.
