National Council of Resistance: Tehran Government Has Another Secret Nuclear Facility - 2003-10-14

The National Council of Resistance of Iran, an opposition group to the Islamic Republic, has claimed that the Tehran government has another secret nuclear facility in central Iran. The council states that this facility, located near the city of Isfahan, is being used to test centrifuges that can produce highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons. The Islamic Republic has repeatedly denied these allegations of producing nuclear weapons, asserting that its nuclear program is solely intended for electricity generation. The National Council of Resistance is an exiled group that is listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. However, a year ago, it first revealed the existence of two nuclear sites in Iran. The Tehran government subsequently informed international inspectors, who found traces of highly enriched uranium at one of them in Natanz. According to Reuters, Ali Akbar Salehi, the representative of the Islamic Republic at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), stated that the government has not hidden any of its nuclear facilities from international inspectors. The IAEA has asked Iran to halt uranium enrichment and has given the Tehran government until the end of October to prove that it is not engaged in building nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the IAEA, is traveling to Tehran this week to gather more information about Iran's nuclear program.