Dramatic satellite shot of Iran plant ‘shows heavy water production’ says Western Intelligence
In what is believed to be a shot taken by US spy satellites above Iran, what looks like clear evidence of ‘heavy water’ production is arrowed in the image above. The steam has convinced the International Atomic Energy Association to brief its members on what it sees as a secret attempt by Tehran to dupe the West about nuclear intentions.
Iran has begun the production of Heavy Water at its plant in Arak. For some eighteen months now, IAEA inspectors have been banned from the site, a decision which aroused suspicion among Western intelligence agencies. Put simply, heavy water is vital for the production of weapons-grade plutonium.
The nuclear processes at Arak involve two projects: a plant to produce
heavy water production; and then a block where heavy water will be used in conjunction with the nuclear reactor facility. This latter will, it is thought, come onstream by autumn 2013.
Iran has thus far led the inspectors to believe that uranium enrichment was its only route to the production of nuclear missiles. This new evidence suggests very strongly that the Ahmadinnejhad regime has always had a secret alternative ready to go quite soon.
A month ago, The Slog somewhat artlessly suggested that ‘Iran…..does indeed want to develop nuclear weapons – but is as yet quite some way off doing so…..unless there is a shadow operation somewhere thus far unknown to the West. Given the accuracy of satellite photography now, the chances of this being a reality are remote….’
Sometimes one can be wrong about the facts and right about the motives. This looks like one of those cases: I was tipped off in the early hours of today about the upcoming piece in today’s Daily Telegraph, and within the last two hours, a Washington source gave his view that the photo is genuine. “We have known about Arak’s capacity for some time,” he said, “and this looks like the complex, with the production block’s emerging steam clearly visible.”
The timing is, of course, suspicious: another round of nuclear talks between the West and Iran are due to start, and this development will put Tehran into a difficult position in relation to the Islamist rogue State’s insistence that only peaceful intentions lie behind its development of nuclear technology.
But the photography plus the visitation ban together suggest that it is Iran which must now allay the very real suspicion about what’s happening inside Arak.
Yesterday at The Slog: UKip’s real ambitions analysed
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