Skip to main content

State The Obvious, Why Don't You

Iran developing nuclear-capable warheads, says Iranian opposition group

An exile Iranian opposition group claimed it had proof that Iran was developing nuclear-capable warheads which can reach Europe.

Avi Woolf
Avi Woolf
2 min read
Iranian nuclear missiles. Illustration.
Photo: BERK CAN/Shutterstock

The National Council of Resistance of Iran or NCRI, an exile Iranian opposition group, claimed last Friday that Iran is secretly developing nuclear capable warheads for missiles which can reach Europe, according to Iran International.

The NCRI, which was the first to unveil evidence that Iran had a nuclear weapons program in 2002, which was then frozen in 2003 following the invasion of Iraq only to be restarted years later, now claims that Iran is getting very close to its goal.

Basing itself on an unnamed network of sources within Iran, the NCRI said that "a missile facility on the outskirts of Semnan, approximately 220 kilometers east of Tehran, is working to produce liquid-fuel missiles with nuclear warheads," and that "this effort is being directed by the Organization for Advanced Defense Research (SPND), the entity established to consolidate Iran’s nuclear weapons activities."

This SPND "is particularly dedicated to creating nuclear warheads for the solid-fuel Ghaem-100 missiles, which are equipped with mobile launch platforms at the Shahroud site and building liquid fuel missile Simorgh to develop nuclear warheads in Semnan."

Iran has been the subject of multiple sanctions regimes covering its nuclear weapons programs, which have been enforced, lifted, or reimposed depending on the attitude of the American approach to Iran - pressure or conciliation.

According to Senator Ted Cruz's National Security Adviser Omri Ceren, President Donald Trump's decision in his first term to end the nuclear deal signed with his predecessor Barack Obama and the imposition of "maximum pressure" sanctions froze Iran's nuclear program in place and left it weak.

Ceren argues that it was under Biden that Iran, thanks to lifted sanctions and weaker enforcement, rapidly increased its uranium enrichment and sped up other steps to bring the Islamic Republic ever closer to having a nuclear arsenal.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has left Israel for the United States to discuss the Iranian threat with President Donald Trump. Trump himself has discussed the option of a military strike against Iran's nuclear weapons facilities but has said it would be "nice" if that option were avoided.


Loading comments...