ABC Radio Networks

With John Batchelor

November 23, 2005

Iran up for a Decision at the IAEA Meeting

John Batchelor:  Alireza Jafarzadeh is here to report more troubles in Iran.  Right now the selected dictator wanna-be in Tehran, his name is Ahmadinejad, he can’t get his poker buddies made members of his cabinet.  He has a new poker buddy and wants to put in the oil industry for reasons that are hard to explain, the Majlis, which is the agreed-upon right-wing do-nothings are rejecting his poker buddies.  Now, Ahmadinejad has more troubles than this, thanks to Alireza Jafarzadeh of Strategic Policy Consulting two days ago Alireza and his colleagues held a very important press conference in Washington in which they announced the underground township constructed with North Korea in assistance if not actually ditch-taking outside of Tehran, the neighborhoods of Tehran, this city, where the nuclear warhead, the missiles to deliver those nuclear warheads and the nuclear energy cycle is under construction if not headed towards completion.  Alireza joins me tonight to update on what the IAEA in Vienna and the important states voting in the IAEA momentarily have done with the information that Alireza and his colleagues delivered to the world.  Alireza, Good evening to you.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Good evening, John, and happy Thanksgiving to you and your great audience.

John Batchelor:  Thank you, Alireza, your press conference, 48 hours ago, what is the response from the IAEA about the underground township where the Iranians are constructing nuclear weapons?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Well, there has been no official response by the IAEA about the sites, I think their general policy is they take the information, they look at it, but they never respond--

John Batchelor:  They’ve not rejected it, there’s no rejection of the IAEA.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  They’ve not rejected it, no one has actually said anything against it, I think a number of countries have taken this very seriously. I know the Americans have taken it very seriously; a number of countries in Europe and other places are looking at it very seriously. The Iranian regime, some of the newspapers and websites run by the regime, have started talking about it obviously denying that they’re doing anything wrong but this is their official approach.

John Batchelor:  Alireza, there was a very important press conference by the National Council of Resistance of Iran today to update the IAEA about the denial and deception program by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards council part of the military of the Ministry of Defense that is running the nuclear weapons cycle in several important sites most recently there was supposedly an open inspection by the IAEA in Iran, it turns out to have been a bogus site.  Tell me about it, Alireza.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Well, John when Mohammed ElBaradei was in town in Washington in early October, he announced for the first time that the Iranian regime has allowed the inspectors of the IAEA to finally be able to go to Parchin after several months of delays and they have taken samples and they need to go back again.  Now what the NCRI has revealed today based on the reports in Vienna they are saying that the regime has taken the IAEA inspectors to a wrong area in Parchin, because Parchin is a huge military site near Tehran, the regime has taken the IAEA inspectors to the northern part of Parchin which is about 5 or 6 miles away from the southern part where the suspected enrichment is going on and the other thing that the NCRI revealed today is that very recently the Iranian officials have lined the walls of the tunnels with lead to contain the radioactivity and avoid detection of enrichment and this is the latest in a series of deception that Iran has been doing.

John Batchelor:  Alireza, to your information, does the IAEA intend to act on all these revelations, have they in the past acted on these revelations, although it’s not instant, but in my memory from your reports over the last years, is that eventually the IAEA Commission gets around to dealing with the important information that you and your sources provide, is that correct?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Yes, I believe that they have acted on every single piece of information that has been provided to them by the Iranian opposition, many of them here in Washington and some others in Europe by the National Council of Resistance, but obviously, unless there are things that lead to inspections that is reflected in their report, that you can find out that they have gone to a certain place, otherwise, you would not be able to find out.  Based on just the reports that the IAEA have put out since 2003, at least 7-9 of the revelations by the NCRI have been followed up by the IAEA and have been proven accurate.  Others are somewhat pending, none of them have been actually rejected by the IAEA.

John Batchelor:  Momentarily the IAEA is meeting again in Vienna to confront Iran over secret nuclear weapons program, and we’ve been dubious to the point of gloomy over the last week, is there any reason to believe that there’s going to be a new confrontation that unusual players will side with the Americans?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Well, I see different reports coming, first of all I think, looking at the big picture, I think Ahmadinejad the Iranian regime’s president has to a good extent succeeded in sidestepping a fight to the rest of the world tomorrow over Iran’s nuclear plans and I think tomorrow’s meeting of the IAEA would not now be a show-down in which the board of governors would defer Iran to the United Nations Security Council and I think this will take away some of the pressure from Iran and remove the momentum that has been built over the past few months. However, there are other reports that the U.S. is trying to build a coalition that in addition to the EU-3, Britain, France, and Germany, the U.S. is now trying to bring China on board--

John Batchelor:  --China, China, China, member of the primitive Security Council of the United Nations, China, watch that report.  It’s more hope than credibility at this point, but it points to the fact that Alireza’s information, information of the Resistance, the democratic Resistance in Iran, has hope.  This is ABC radio.

ABC Radio Networks

With John Batchelor

November 21, 2005

Iran Building Nuclear-capable Missiles under Tunnels

John Bachelor:  I’m John bachelor www.JohnBatchelorShow.com, ABC radio the newsflash from the IAEA is an apparent climb down from confrontation with regard to the secret nuclear weapons program in Iran.  That climb down comes at the same time more information developed by Alireza Jafarzadeh of Strategic Policy Consulting and his colleagues in this news cycle of continued and extremely elaborate preparations to complete the nuclear fuel cycle and construct a nuclear weapon out of the view of prying U.S. satellites and other signals intelligence.  How do they do that?  Technically it’s called a deep and hard site otherwise translated, tunnels. Alireza good evening to you…

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Good evening to you John

John Bachelor:  At your press conference today you had important new information that completely contradicts the IAEA’s reluctance to confront Iran. What did you say?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Yes, it is ironic that this information came today, when that news came from the IAEA and the EU3. What I had to share with the room, packed full of reporters was that Iran under the order of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamene’i has gotten its military involved, both the Revolutionary Guards and the Defense Ministry in allocating a large portion of an area near Tehran that is engaged in building underground tunnels in the mountains that is used for building nuclear capable missiles.  This facility is so extensive that it covers tens of thousands of acres filled with buildings and facilities.  One of the tunnels that I specifically talked about that is 1,000 meter long, at the end of it, it has a fork like extension with six other tunnels each of them about 500m. And in these tunnels there is extensive facility with ventilation, heating and cooling systems and they’re building parts of the missile both the Shahab-3 and a new missile called Ghadar with a range of about 1200 to 1875 miles.  There is one particular unit that I’ve spoken about that we had found out is located here and that is unit 2500, code named 2500 that specifically deals with nuclear warheads. The other aspect that I talked about was the involvement of the North Koreans in this program

John Bachelor:  I want to underline this part Alireza. Forgive me for just a moment North Koreans…  the reason it is interesting to me is because for a long time it has been in my information that the North Koreans are the world’s best tunnelers and they were hired by the Iraqis, they were hired by the Libyans, they are work for hire, tunnelers.  Either their techniques or their willingness to risk or that the [North Korean] regime is hungry for cash, you bring them in, and they build you a city underground.  Do you have information that the North Koreans are the ones that built this underground city near Tehran?

Alireza Jafarzadeh: Well, I don’t know if they physically built it or not. But I do know the technology, the blueprints, I know for a fact the most sophisticated blueprints came from North Korea. The technology and know how came from North Korea and it might actually be the case that they themselves were directly involved in building the tunnel.  That I don’t know for a fact but certainly the North Koreans have been instrumental in allowing Iran to build such tunnels in a very mountainous area near Tehran that needs a very high level of technology to build these tunnels.

John Bachelor:  I’m speaking with Alireza Jafarzadeh of Strategic Policy Consulting and you can go to the website, part of his release today... a very elaborate web site… the name of the group is called www.Iranpolicy.org. Alireza’s statement is laid out in details and I want to go to those details to underline that these are not anecdotes, this is not a freelance operation of wondering around having tea. Hemmat Industries Group has the following sections that have been given code numbers to keep their work secret and Alireza, you mentioned the last time we spoke about code name 2500, their building the warhead.  That’s Karimi Industries but there’s also Movohed Industries, Veramini Industries, Cheraghee Industries, Rastagar Industries, Noori Industries, Kolhar Industries, of these industries building various aspects of the missiles and the kinds of missiles with the code names, are these all controlled by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards council or is this a private enterprise working for the state?

Alireza Jafarzadeh: This entire operation is run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.  There is an organization called the Aerospace Organization, it’s a huge operation and the Aerospace Organization is under the control of the Defense Ministry. Actually the person in charge of that operation is a Brigadier General of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards whose name is Ahmad Vahid Dastjerdi and he reports directly to the Defense Minister who is newly appointed by Ahmadinejad, again a former commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, who is now the Defense Minister and the entire operation is under the direct supervision of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamene’i. 

John Bachelor:  You point to a decision made in August of 2002 when the National Council of Resistance of Iran has charged and is continuing to reveal information about the tunneling and also about the scale of the nuclear weapons program and the missiles developed to deliver the nuclear weapon, can we believe that the National Council of Resistance of Iran continues to have good sources in the country despite the best efforts of the regime?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Absolutely.  It’s a good point that you raised John.  Ever since their first revelation came in August of 2002 which significantly hurt the regime when Natanz and Arak, the uranium enrichment facilities and the heavy water reactor facility was exposed. And then the regime did a major crackdown as they said they wanted to check everything and shut down the leaks and find out the persons who were involved in leaking the information. They arrested a number of people and they’ve announced a number of times since 2002 that they have found the sources and arrested the people and now the regime is leak proof.  It didn’t take more than a few days before another revelation came from the National Council of Resistance. So they have continued to be, in a very consistent way, to be the main source of information on Iran’s nuclear weapons program and their missile program and obviously in this case the source had very detailed information…

John Bachelor:  Down to the street address.  Is it your information that these tunnels, this underground township is called, is bombproof? Is it your understanding that it would take a nuclear bunker buster to get in there?  Is that your information?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Exactly, the way they built it, the whole purpose is to protect it against any kind of attack, aerial attacks or attacks on the ground.  Some of these tunnels are built under mountains that are 300m higher than their adjacent areas so they have enough protection there. In fact you mentioned the August of 2002 revelation, I think since that year, the regime actually changed its tactics because the regime realized that the revelations were continuing to coming. So what they did was a three pronged strategy:

• First, Iran started to move the program underground for both safety and leak protection
• Second, Iran has increasingly brought the program under the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and you see more of a role played by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards than you saw back in 2002
• And the third element that is very evident is how Iran is speeding up the process to give the regime its first nuclear bomb and their welcoming any kind of confrontation at the IAEA level from their negotiations.

John Bachelor:  From their bombproof facility in the neighborhood of Tehran. Alireza Jafarzadeh, the press release from the National Press Club. It’s everywhere in the world right now and the IAEA has to deal with it. Iran has a nuclear weapons program and a missile program to deliver that nuclear weapon to Europe.  This is John Batchelor www.JohnBatchelorShow.com, ABC radio.

ABC Radio Networks

With John Batchelor

November 18, 2005

Demonstration of Goodwill or

Iran’s Continued Hide and Seek Game

John Batchelor: I’m John Batchelor, www.JohnBatchelorShow.com ABC Radio. Breaking news from the United Nations inspectors; Iran has passed on… this is Iran’s nuclear weapons cycle regime, so called energy cycle regime has passed on information that Iran says is a way of demonstrating that A. Q. Khan, the disgraced Pakistani scientist was involved early on in Iran’s nuclear weapons/energy research, this to demonstrate that they are now coming clean after twenty years of disguising their effort to build a nuclear bomb. I’ve asked Alireza Jafarzadeh of the Strategic Policy Consulting to comment on this apparent good faith gesture of Iran to show that “that was then, this is now”, we cleaned up our act, and we’re ratting on A. Q. Khan. Alireza, good evening to you.

Alireza Jafarzadeh: Good evening to you, John.

John Batchelor: How to read this demonstration of goodwill by the Tehran regime?

Alireza Jafarzadeh: Well John, demonstration of goodwill? Absolutely not. I think it’s exactly the opposite. I think that Iran feels that the screws are tightening and more revelations are coming. There was this document from the United States government that was released months ago and there have been revelations after revelations by the Iranian opposition so they thought that if they come up with this document to supposedly show their good will, then it might convince some people that their intentions are benign but I think the fact that… first of all, Tehran’s claim that this document was obtained in an unsolicited way, provided by the notorious nuclear scientist of Pakistan A. Q. Khan…

John Batchelor: In other words, A. Q. Khan, a man who we know associates with money making and selling nuclear technology, out of the goodness of his heart or just because he spontaneously feels like mailing out a document that one day could be linked to making nuclear bombs sends it to Iran and they didn’t ask for it. It just shows up.

Alireza Jafarzadeh: exactly, and the interesting thing is…

John Batchelor: It could happen; it could happen [laughter]

Alireza Jafarzadeh: [laughter] Well the point is that even by their own admission, they say that it was A. Q. Khan who provided this to them in 1987. The question arises; first of all, it was A. Q. Khan who actually traveled to Iran twice in 1986 and 1987, earlier this year I appeared on your show and I said that A. Q. Khan had met three commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards when he was in Iran in 1987. That’s exactly when, exactly the same period that Iran says A. Q. Khan gave this document to them.  If it were provided in an unsolicited way, why did A. Q. Khan meet with three generals in the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) at the Brigadier General level? I have a name, Brigadier General Mohamed Islami and they discussed nothing about nuclear energy but clearly about a nuclear weapons program. Second, if this was the case, why has Iran not provided this document to the IAEA since the inspections started?

John Batchelor: Right, we’ve had opportunity over the last several years for Iran to come forward with this document and that is a question asked by the chief U.S. delegate to the IAEA, Gregory Schulte who says that Iran owes the board of governors its explanation of what it was doing with these documents these many years. Was it in a drawer, did somebody forget or perhaps one of those generals that A. Q. Khan met with in 1987 retired and it was it home and they were just cleaning out some items from this house? [Sarcasm]

Alireza Jafarzadeh: That could be the next explanation that they’ll come up with… [Sarcasm] But I think when you put this in perspective with all of the other actions Iran has been taking with regard to its nuclear weapons program, for instance they resumed their activities in Isfahan, the uranium enrichment facility and now they are denying according to the IAEA report that was provided to the Board of Governors today, Mr. ElBaradei has admitted that Iran has denied access to a key site known as Lavizan.  This is the site that the National Council of Resistance had exposed last year. So far Iran has denied access to it and now Ali Larijani who is the chief nuclear negotiator for Iran, he’s saying that “we’re not going to provide access especially because Lavizan Shian is a military complex” and then he says, “unless they can convince us why they need to go to Lavizan, we will not allow them in.”

John Batchelor: Alireza Jafarzadeh of FOX News and Strategic Policy Consulting, under the pretense of good faith… let’s move past that, you have an important press conference scheduled for Monday the 21rst of November and at this point it is premature to reveal all that you have but let me ask a general question, at this press conference in Washington, I’ll talk to you afterward, you are going to bring forth information that is inconsistent with Tehran’s protest of goodwill? Are you going to bring forth information that demonstrates the military regime of the nuclear weapons cycle is and is continuing despite the best efforts of the IAEA to discover it?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Exactly John, this press conference, my information will clearly show that first of all the Defense Ministry as well as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are extensively involved in the nuclear weapons program, second they have huge facilities in a hidden way that they are conducting the program and third, it actually corroborates the kind of information the United States shared with its European Allies earlier this year that dealt with Iran developing a nuclear warhead, and I will have numerous details on this.

John Batchelor: A detail here Alireza, the laptop computer in July that the United States showed to its allies to increase the pressure on Iran, do you have information that is consistent with that laptop demonstrating that Iran was developing a nuclear warhead trigger?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Yes, so far what I have actually corroborates the statements that the United States has made and based on their documents Iran is actually pursuing the development of a nuclear warhead. That I will hopefully be able to share.

John Batchelor: That’s Monday the 21^st of November in Washington.  Where will it be held Alireza?

Alireza Jafarzadeh: It will be in the National Press Club, in the National Press Building in Washington, DC.

John Batchelor: I understand that you’re not free to talk about all of the details but we will look to talk to you again on Monday.  Iran demonstrating no goodwill in what was already known by Alireza and others that in 1987, A. Q. Khan the notorious nuclear weapons bandit traveled to Iran, met with Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp. generals now is revealed by Tehran in a gesture of the so called goodwill, in fact if you want to be fooled by it, you’re not an ally of the United States of America. That document is proof, demonstration, evidence that Alireza Jafarzadeh and his sources know what they’re talking about.  This is John Batchelor www.JohnBatchelorShow.com ABC Radio.

ABC Radio Networks

With John Batchelor

Monday, November 14, 2005

Iran’s Secret Program to Build a Nuclear Warhead

Alireza I begin with a story that we have from the New York Times and other places we have about a laptop computer that was shown to the European Union and other interested parties last summer that demonstrates with clarity the aggression and the plans of the secret Iranian nuclear weapons program.  What laptop, what was the demonstration and who was there?  Good evening Alireza.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Good evening John, it’s always great to be on your show.  Based on the New York Times article the laptop that everybody is talking about is a computer that was provided by one of the contacts for the United States who had apparently worked in the Iranian regime’s nuclear weapons program or had access to it and the contents of the laptop included more than 1000 pages of documents, graphs, plans and detailed information about the design and the building of a nuclear warhead.

Based on that information and the U.S. intelligence investigation into it, they started sharing that [information] with the International Atomic Energy Agency back in the July of this year.  According to the New York Times, U.S. officials actually briefed IAEA Chief ElBaradei.  It was actually headed by Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Mr. Robert Joseph who actually led the July briefing and the Americans started briefing other countries in Europe including Britain and France and a number of other European countries which they all basically agreed and they felt that the information was so detailed and it showed the progress of work that had been done between 2001 and 2004 and some of the problems that the Iranian regime’s experts had worked out.  That created a strong belief among them that Iran was actually developing a nuclear warhead.

In addition to that, my own information that has come to me from an independent, entirely different source also corroborates what the report states.  My information suggests that, the information that I received was in December of 2004 that Iran has a sophisticated program running in military complex near Tehran called Hemmat Missile Industries and there is a secret part of this complex run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards known as Shaheed Karimi Industrial Group and they are involved in the development of a nuclear warhead.  This place is so secretive that everything is operated on codes.  The code name for the nuclear warhead section is 2500.  There are some Revolutionary Guard commanders who operate the section and this confirms the content in general of the U.S. Government report.

John Bachelor: I’m speaking to Alireza Jafarzadeh of Strategic Policy Consulting and FOX News.  Alireza has been in contact with very good sources with regard to Iran’s secret nuclear weapons program.  Alireza, I want to point to a time line here: we’re told, and this is open source intelligence, we’re told that the briefing of the laptop took place in July of this last summer. In July of 2005 the Mullahs selected Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president who since then has made very aggressive, very racist remarks towards not only Israel but to the West.

There has also been no attempt by him to curtail the nuclear weapons cycle and to go forward in negotiation. Now we have news of this laptop that the European Union knew about in July, we now have it publicly here in November as one more time the IAEA approach Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Revolutionary Guards secret nuclear weapons cycle masters with another offer. How do you put all these things together? Why one more offer? What can we expect of the final negotiations?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Well John I think that is a very important question you referred to because all of the indications, evidence and the behavior of the Iranian regime, in fact points in the direction of a very sophisticated, advanced and extensive nuclear weapons program while at the same time, when it comes to the European Union, the EU3 and to some extent, occasionally on the part of the United States, there is not a compatible approach, a decisive approach that is needed to confront the Iranian regime’s nuclear weapons program.  And repeatedly when there is time to confront the Iranian regime with these facts, hold them responsible and refer their files to the United Nations Security Council; talks of negotiations, new proposals come and I think it destroys this whole process.

John Bachelor:  Alireza… Just a moment, so it isn’t your interpretation that these negotiations, despite the facts that are demonstrated, and this laptop, despite the evidence of the code name 2500 that is available, all of that is in the hands of Nobel Peace Prize winner ElBaradei, all of that is in the hands of the IAEA and the European Union and regardless of that they are proceeding with this so called negotiation, they are proceeding to deal with a regime that makes racist remarks towards wiping Israel off the map, is that all true?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  That is true John. I think there is enough evidence to show where Iran is going. We don’t have to speculate to show where Iran is going. There are a number of unanswered questions that remain unresolved between the IAEA and Iran and Iran has not answered those questions.

John Bachelor:  Alireza gets ahead of me… Is Ahmadinejad going to reject any negotiation with respect to spent rods being taken to Russia or Bushehr being reestablished or will it all be rejected?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  I think yes John. As I said before I think the regime is not going to accept that because they still feel they have room to maneuver. They don’t see the kind of decisiveness from the Europeans so they feel the more they push the envelope, the more they can get ahead, they can get more concessions out of the negotiations and talks so they’re not going to agree to such proposals.

John Bachelor:  Until the day that code name 2500 becomes a testable weapon, this is John bachelor www.JohnBatchelorShow.com ABC Radio.

Interview with Mr. Alireza Jafarzadeh on

"The World without Israel Conference"

John Batchelor:    John Batchelor, www.JohnBatchelorShow.com, ABC Radio, Tehran within the last news cycle at a conference called “The World without Israel Conference” the duly elected, appointed president of Iran, Ahmadinejad, stands in front of the audience of three thousand students and uses a Farsi language “wipe Israel off the map”.  Within a news cycle, several important co responses. First , Alexander Yakovenko , Russian Foreign Minster the quote “ those who insist on referring Iran’s nuclear dossier to the United Nation Security Council  have received an additional argument for doing so. I suspect that sounds more ponderous in Russia. Then the Prime Minster of Israel calls for the expulsion of Iran for these remarks by Ahmadinejad expulsion from United Nations and at the same time Yuri Dan of Israel saying that the combination of the state that sponsors terrorism calls openly for the export of Islamic revolution calls openly for the destruction of another country and develops nuclear weapons can not be tolerated anymore. The war of words and behind it nuclear weapons or so say United States President, the United States State Department and the major source for what United States knows, for the world knows about Iran secret nuclear weapon program, not so secret, is Alireza Jafarzadeh of the Strategic Policy Consulting. Alireza, very good evening to you.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:   Very good evening to you John.

John Batchelor:    Ahmadinejad knows that he is throwing matches into gasoline to make remarks about wiping Israel off the map. He says it in Farsi. He knows it will be translated and bantered around the world. What is his game and how does it related to the nuclear weapon program?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:     Well I think Ahmadinejad is going according to his plan and supreme leader, Ali Khamenie’s plan. We should keep in mind that the reason actually Ahmadinejad gained power was because supreme leader Khamenei’s made up his mind a long time ago to get increasingly confrontational externally and repressive domestically.  Of course, at the center of all of this is Iran’s nuclear weapons program and the way they have advanced. I think this statement by Ahmadinejad signals that Iran is far more advanced in nuclear weapon program than previously was believed and it is an indication that Iran has no intension to back down from its nuclear program. When Ahmadinejad makes the statements that he is going to wipe Israel off the map and I don’t know how else could you do that except using a nuclear weapon program or at least that is what he is intending to imply. So this is in line with the Iranian regime strategy to get the bomb as quickly as possible, to step up terrorism, and to gain greater influence in Iraq.

John Batchelor:     Qods Day is significant to the Iranians. It comes up within the next news cycle. What is Qods Day and what significance does it have with regards to these treating remarks.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:     Well, Qods Day means Jerusalem in Farsi is the last Friday of the month of Ramadan that was actually assigned as a Qods Day by Khomeini himself. It has no history in Iranian history. Nothing on that nature and 26 years ago Khomeini designated this day as a Qods Day as it means to rally his own forces, his own revolutionary guards and Basijis around the issue of Jerusalem, liberating Jerusalem as they said and using this to attack Israel and United States. Now every year they have that rally but this year is significant because of two reasons: one Ahmadinejad is now the regime’s president and he just made the statement yesterday about wiping Israel off the map and second now Iran’s nuclear weapons program is far more advanced than is ever been. So the rally tomorrow which would be attended by the entire cabinet of Ahmadinejad. He personally asked the cabinet and the revolutionary guards and other to participate in this rally to shut what they say in the slogan against both the Unites States and Israel.

John Batchelor:       I am speaking to Alireza Jafarzadeh of Strategic Policy Consulting. We are talking about the game or the strategy of making outrageous remarks in front of the world body that is already proceeding to examine closer and closer their nuclear weapons program. The can was kicked in to next month, the end of October, with regard the IAEA.  Update me Alireza as to what the IAEA wants to happen and what we know Iran will not do.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:      The IAEA is hoping that at this month meeting in Vienna, Iran would say “ok. I am going to comply, I am going to stop all the activities in Isfahan, that where the uranium conversion facility is, I am going to comply with all the demands that the IAEA said in its resolution“ which as we all know is not going to happen and I think everyone knows both the European and the United States know that this is not going to happen. So I think that there is a conundrum, at one hand IAEA and the United States would have to come up with some very decisive measures that would start by referring Iran’s file to United Nations Security [Council] and on the other hand you need to have the kind of desire and willingness on the part of European Countries to get firm and to get tough with Iran. I think given the statement that Ahmadinejad made yesterday I think the United States has a lot more ammunition in going to next month’s discussion with IAEA, US should definitely push for tough political measures and what I mean by that is the measures that would threaten the very existence of the Iranian regime. The way to do it is by empowering the Iranian opposition. Interestingly today in the US Congress the ambassador for counter terrorism of the State Department was in a briefing, the member of congress were repeating asking him question about Iran, about Ahmadinejad , and about what is the State Department’s plan to confront this and they specifically questioned the legitimacy of designating the main opposition, the Mujahedin-e Khalq, that was responsible for revealing all of the major nuclear information about Iran, putting them on the terror list that was done seven years ago, eight years ago during the Clinton administration and the Members were asking why the State Department is not acting to remove the group from the list and empowering the opposition to threaten the existence of the Iranian Regime.

John Batchelor:         Alireza Jafarzadeh, Strategic Policy Consulting, Fox News Channel.  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s statement, the statement that he made will be routinely repeated throughout the Iranian revolution, within the next news cycle as they celebrate it, that Israel must be wiped off the map. What is the United Nations going to do? This is John Batchelor.

Iran Deserving Referral to the UN Security Council

for its Nuclear Program

John Bachelor:  I’m John Batchelor, www.JohnBachelorShow.com ABC Radio. Important news in terms of the United Nations, in terms of Iran is that the United States and the European Union are as one calling for the IAEA, the nuclear watchdog to report Iran to the Security Council, a referral of Iran for violating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and other important treaties.  Alireza Jafarzadeh of Strategic Policy Consulting and FOX News Channel is here to comment on this news because it is the result of a deal of information passed to entities such as the United States and European Union and the IAEA by organizations that he has much familiarity with.  This is primary information from inside Iran. Alireza, good evening to you.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Good evening to you, John.

John Bachelor:  Here it is; two years since Jack Straw was in Tehran to negotiate for the EU three, France, England and Germany.  Three years since we began this process of confronting the Iranian regime with regard to its longstanding, sometimes more than two decades long standing secret nuclear weapons program.  Today we have the European Union and the United States in agreement.  Now I want to stop here Alireza and ask you, in your memory has there ever been a time, and I cannot think of a single one in the last 25 years, in which the European Union and the United States have had the same policy of confronting the Iranian regime over its nuclear weapons.  Can you recall a day like this before?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  I don’t John and I think it is very important to fully understand this, because I know the United States has worked very hard and President Bush has emphasized repeatedly on the need to unify the position of Europe and the United States and to get the Europeans closer and closer to the position of the United States. And as things stand now, I think we are finally getting there. This is a very hopeful sign. I was just going over my list of all of the thirty-five members of the Board of Governors and at least twenty of them I am confident will vote in favor, perhaps a couple, possibly two or three more so the vote is already there.

John Bachelor:  A vote in favor of referral of Iran to the U.N. Security Council for action and the action would be sanctions or at least debate.  So let’s go over that. You believe twenty of the thirty-five members of the Board of Governors and, this is the watchdog, this is twenty member states will vote for it.  Now heretofore Alireza it is a tradition that this is a consensus body that Mohammed ElBaradei, the man leading the IAEA has always moved with unanimous consent.  There has never been a contested referral before.  This would be an unprecedented thing if it happens but at least there is a majority now.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  The significant thing is that there is a resolution already drafted that is being circulated; which is important, because if there is a feeling that it is not going to work, they’re not going to draft a resolution, number one.  Second, once you have enough votes in favor, you are creating significant pressure on the other countries that are resisting this and eventually the real hope is that those countries, mostly the nonaligned movement, would abstain and would not vote against this which would eventually lead to a consensus. 

John Bachelor:  let’s go over some details here because this is not because we don’t like the way Ahmadinejad dresses.  This has to do with specific things that have not been satisfied by Iran for many years and you’ve sent a couple of letters Alireza, you and your organization and your colleagues recently to Mohammad ElBaradei and what did those letters tell him.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  The information that I provided on Friday talked about secret tunnels in Iran that are used for nuclear weapons hidden from the eyes of the international community and then a list of at least twenty-two specific cases of revelations that have occurred since August of 2002 until now, and one by one, these two lists were sent along with a letter that was written by the head of the Nuclear Control Institute, by Mr. Paul Leventhal and the Iran Policy Committee with Professor Raymond Tanter, they sent a joint letter to ElBaradei, telling him these are the facts and based on their information a number of these revelations have not been dealt with.  That is to say that the IAEA has not been allowed to go to those sites and inspect those places, or Iran has delayed and therefore this is a major concern. They asked Mr. ElBaradei to bring to the attention of all thirty-five member states of the Board of Governors, both the content of the revelations that was released on Friday but also the two letters.

John Bachelor:  I want to go over specifically to what you and your colleagues spoke to within the last couple days. This is evidence of an underground nuclear site with a photo in Tehran.  One at Parchin and the other one in East Tehran

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Right, exactly.

John Bachelor:  And these are detailed to ElBaradei.  You also have engineering plans for a tunnel where you can hide nuclear weapons programs, the energy cycle and where it is secure from a gamma radiation on the surface, also where you can put factories.  You also identified that there is a department inside the ministry of defense that is in charge of these tunnels.  Now all of that information is in his hands.  Has he commented?  Do you expect him to comment before the confrontation vote at the IAEA?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Well and he has hinted to some extent saying today that he is very concerned that he thinks the ball is now in Iran’s court and he expects Iran to comply and there are a number of unanswered questions. 

John Bachelor:  So he hasn’t rejected your information?  He hasn’t sent it back to you? 

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Implicitly I think he is referring to that information so I am hoping that this has already been brought to the attention of the thirty-five members of the Board of Governors.

John Bachelor:  Have you had any response from the Iranian mission at the United Nations or from the Iranian embassy is that are in Europe because these allegations go to the heart of what the United States and the EU are now saying.  Iran has violated the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  The position of the Iranian regime is categorically, every time there is a revelation that they say Iran’s program is for peaceful purposes and we have been transparent and have nothing to hide and these are all lies. But repeatedly, every single time that these revelations took place and the IAEA had the opportunity to go and inspect these places, they found exactly what the National Council of Resistance had exposed.  The site in Natanz where they had a huge uranium enrichment facility that was exposed by the NCRI. The site in Arak, where there is a heavy water facility that was exposed by the NCRI and its existence proved later by the IAEA.  The site in Ab-Ali where they had hidden a centrifuge testing facility under the cover of a watch making factory again revealed by the NCRI, confirmed by the IAEA and there is a long list of such allegations. So against that kind of a background, I think the member states should be very concerned because there are still a good number of those allegations that have not been followed up.

John Bachelor:  Questions that must be answered. The United States and the EU are asking the watchdog IAEA to refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council for sanctions.  Alireza Jafarzadeh of Strategic Policy Consulting, and FOX News. This is John Bachelor www.JohnBachelorShow.com ABC Radio.

Iran Hiding its Nuclear Weapons Program

in Underground Tunnels

Voice of translator for Ahmadinejad: I wish to underline our deep dismay that over fifty Islamic countries encompassing more than 1.2 billion people do not have a permanent seat in the security council nor does Africa with its huge capabilities and potentials and that the very vast continent of Asia with its ancient civilizations has only one permanent seat.

Voice of French representative: If a state fails to meet its obligations under the non-proliferation treaty, it is legitimate for the Security Council to … once dialog has been exhausted. It is in this spirit that France urges Iran to comply with the resolutions of the IAEA and its international commitments, including the Paris agreement.

John Batchelor: I am John Batchelor, johnbatchelorshow.com, ABC radio. The selected President of Iran, Ahmadinejad, declares the right of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Council and the mullahs and the tyranny of Tehran to develop a nuclear fuel cycle. What is the risk, why does the EU3, the United States and other concerned states in the world stand up to Ahmadinejad? Because it’s a secret nuclear weapons program. Alireza Jafarzadeh of the Strategic Policy Consulting and the Fox News Channel as well as a member of the newly formed Iran Policy Committee testified today before the international press in Washington, with documents, to reveal the tunnel system in important sites in Iran where he believes, and his colleagues believe, that secret nuclear weapons program is going forward. Alireza, good evening to you.

Alireza Jafarzadeh: Good evening to you John. One small correction, I was invited by the Iran Policy Committee; I am not a member of them. But I was honored to be on their panel on their event.

John Batchelor: You were joined by several of you colleagues; let’s get to the maps and the drawings. There are tunnels, why are they building, where are they building the tunnels? Who is building them and why? Alireza.

Alireza Jafarzadeh: Well the tunnels are being built by the Defense Ministry. They have created an entity within the Defense Ministry’s office for air and space, organization for air and space within the Defense Ministry that have created a new entity, they call it “Development Project” but in fact it is an extensive engineering team of very closely watched experts of the regime intended to build tunnels. The reason they are building the tunnels is to move the Iranian or perhaps expand the Iranian nuclear weapons program from the sites, many of which are now known to the International Atomic Energy Agency to these secret sites which is good both for protection but also for hiding the nuclear program because once you move the program underground in the tunnels the radiation can not be detected. And the reason they did it now, because within the past three years particularly, since 2002 that Iran’s main opposition coalition the National Council of Resistance of Iran has made a number of major revelations about Iran’s nuclear weapons program that has dealt a major blow to the program, it has slowed it down, and Iran has decided this is the time now to make its move and move the facilities underground and into military sites which makes it off-limits to the International Atomic Energy Agency if they want to go along with their present standard rules.

John Batchelor: And that’s critical because these tunnels and Alireza Jafarzadeh is reporting on one tunnel that is at least 300 meters long, 80 meters deep, this is in Parchin, possibly other tunnels in east Tehran at an unnamed sites. These tunnels are under the Ministry of Defense, Mohammad Najjar is the Defense Minister, therefore, El-Baradei, the good people at the IAEA, the watchdog at the United Nations has no claim to make inspections on these tunnels. These tunnels are deep enough to hide gamma ray radiation. In addition what we are identifying here is an intention to deceive. That’s what this is. This is a pattern of deception. This is not a state that is operating in full view of its member states. This is a state that is making one declaration at the United Nations by its president Ahmadinejad, and conducting its affairs differently. Alireza, do we know who is building these tunnels. Do we know other states that have been mentioned in the past who have special information about how to dig secret deep tunnels to hide factories?

Alireza Jafarzadeh: Well a number of countries have been helping Iranian regime’s nuclear weapons program in different ways. From China to North Korea to Russia, and obviously Pakistan. When it comes to digging the tunnels, I don’t know in this most recent project whether any of these countries were directly involved or not but certainly the technology has been made available by them to the Iranian regime in the past few years and the Iranian regime is also very advanced in building tunnels.

John Batchelor: Right, Alireza a couple of details here, you’ve presented maps, pictures, you’ve pointed exactly to those sites. That information you announced to the world at the press club in Washington. However that information is in the hands, to your knowledge, of the United States of America and its allies in the EU3, is that accurate?

Alireza Jafarzadeh: That is accurate, in fact Mr. Paul Leventhal the president/founder of the Nuclear Control Institute who jointly sponsored the press conference today sent a letter along with Professor Raymond Tanter, the co-chair of Iran Policy Committee, to Mr. El-Baradei and also asking him to relay it to all the members states and the members of the IAEA Board of Governors along with the information that was released in the past few years, the past 2-3 years that has not been resolved, urging the IAEA to take a stand and to resolve any unresolved issues because the more this issue drags the more Iran gets closer to building the bomb.

John Batchelor: These are the facts right now the IAEA has an important meeting on Monday the 19^th of September, It’s my information, is that consistent Alireza? And they will have this information before that.

Alireza Jafarzadeh: That is true the information has been transmitted to them already today and they want the IAEA to discuss this on Monday when they meet. Because the issue before the IAEA is whether to refer Iran’s file to the United Nations Security Council or continue the trend that has been going on in the past. The position of the United States is that the file has to be referred to the UN Security Council. Some of the other European countries are also in agreement but there are some who are opposing this including, it became very clear today, Russia and China. But I think if the United States would push this issue hard enough, strong enough, decisive enough, there is a very good chance that the file could be referred to the United Nations Security Council. Because as things stand the IAEA doesn’t have enough teeth that is needed to confront Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

John Batchelor: I ask you all to consider the evidence here that’s going to be put in front of the IAEA. Thanks to Alireza Jafarzadeh and his colleagues. Here it is, the so-called peaceful nuclear energy cycle in Iran. Part of it, the important part, is in the hands of the Ministry of Defense, a development project has been created at the Ministry of Defense to construct secret, deep and hard sites, tunnels, underneath, one site Natanz, another one east Tehran. Purpose: to expand the ability to conduct nuclear weapons cycle out of prying eyes of satellites, out of the ability to pick up gamma radiation at the surface. Does that sound like peaceful nuclear energy, it sounds like a pattern and practice of predators. This is John Batchelor, johnbatcheloshow.com, ABC radio.

ABC Radio Networks

With John Batchelor

August 26, 2005

Iran Reverse Engineering

Ukrainian Cruise Missiles

John Batchelor:  Alireza Jafarzadeh of Strategic Policy Consulting and Fox News Channel reports two important, extremely penetrating visions of Iran’s secret nuclear weapons program and Iran’s need for a missile that can deliver a nuclear warhead against its enemies in Europe.  Alireza, good evening to you.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Good evening, John.

John Batchelor:  In this news cycle, you spoke to the press at the Press Club in Washington about two important details of Iran’s capability, the first about Qader Khan.  Tell me about that.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  John, I found out from my sources inside the Iranian regime that after revelations was made about notorious Pakistani scientist Abdul Qader Khan, the father of the nuclear weapons program in Pakistan, that he had provided nuclear technology to Iran. Iran’s position was always, in the past two years, while the contacts were minimal, it was just basically for peaceful purposes, it was limited to the Bushehr nuclear reactor.  What I found out from my sources is that that is absolutely not the case.  The reality is that in at least two trips dating back to 19 years ago, in February 1986 and January of 1987, when Khan traveled to Tehran, he met with 3 senior commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, who were responsible at the time for nuclear weapons research and I have the name of the general, Mohammad Islami, and those contacts have continued.  In fact, the information showed that it was those contacts of A.Q. Khan in 86 and 87 that later expanded and significantly helped the Iranian regime’s nuclear program, and I think this is the latest indication of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards involvement in the nuclear program of the Iranian regime that is in sharp contradiction with Tehran’s claims that their program is for peaceful purposes and it has nothing to do with the military.

John Batchelor:  I want to go over the detail just to make sure what Alireza Jafarzadeh is saying that in February of 86, that’s the first trip, and again in January of 87, Khan, who is now under house arrest and unavailable for questioning by the IAEA and other law enforcement bodies under control of Musharraf the President of Pakistan personally in Islamabad traveled to Iran to meet with Iranian Revolutionary Guards.  Those are the men who are completely in control of the Iranian government but this is 19 years ago.  There has long been indication that the Iranian nuclear weapons program has been in development for up to 20 years.  This would date the beginning of that development.  Also, we have Iranians admitting that they have equipment that they acquire from Pakistan, claiming that this demonstrates their innocence that the stains we have identified on that equipment are a product of the fact that they were used in Pakistan and not some collusion with the nuclear weapons scientists.  Khan is unavoidably at the center of a black market of nuclear proliferation to North Korea, to Libya and now Alireza Jafarzadeh’s information is identifying him as part of the traffic into Iran.  Now, let us move to the second, extremely dynamic peace of info. earlier this year, Ukraine, a newly liberated from the hands of the old Soviet bosses in a startling reversal of Ukraine right after that is was revealed that sometime in the late 1990s early 2000 sometime in that period there was a negotiation for 12 cruise missiles KH-55s from Ukraine to be sold to another party and at that time, Iran was mentioned, China was mentioned, North Korea was mentioned.  There is an updated info about those 12 KH-55s.  Tell me, tell me, Alireza.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  John, what I found out from my sources is that in fact those missiles that the information says that roughly from 2001 were supposedly destined for Russia but ended up in Iran.  What happened was that the missiles were received by Iran’s Defense Ministry, then the Defense Ministry delivered them to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the Revolutionary Guards Missile Unit and then the Revolutionary Guards took 10 of those missiles, reconstructed them, and took care of all the problems they had, made them operational, and added them to the missile capability.  Now the other thing that is even more chilling is that 2 of those missiles were delivered to an engineering unit within the Defense Ministry headed by an engineer named Karbalai, who is director of the Cruise Center Division of the Organization of Air and Space within the Ministry of Defense and what they did, they basically dismantled these 2 missiles and they did it in several facilities, including a facility known as Parchin, Parchin Military Complex—

John Batchelor:  --one of the suspect sites for an Iranian nuclear weapons program--

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  exactly, and this is one of the sites that Iran has kept off-limits to the IAEA–

John Batchelor:  --and where we believe there is an underground site, and deep and hard site in Parchin, continue, please.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Exactly, and they dismantled the pieces and parts of the missiles, then did reverse engineering, and trying to copy every single piece and every single piece of technology, and they have very capable experts, a lot of the experts who now work in the Defense Industry are the ones who gained mass training in Russia, France, Germany, China, North Korea and other places, and recently there was a report that Ali Shamkhani who is an outgoing Defense Minister said in a secret meeting of the Supreme National Security Council of the Iranian regime, he said that they have now almost completed the technology to copy the KH-55 cruise missiles and he said, and this is his words, now with the range of this missile which is 3,000 kilometers the regime is now able to threaten the European countries.  And, don’t forget, this is a nuclear-capable missile, because it flies in low altitudes, it’s very difficult to detect and to bring down, so this is the latest news about the missile technology of the Iranian regime.

John Batchelor:  That’s the re-built KH-55 which we presume will have a new Revolutionary Guards Council named for and Alireza Jafarzadeh reporting in this news cycle in Washington in the press club and we’ll wait for the response from Ahmadinejad.  A.Q. Khan, extensive high-level meetings as early as February 86 with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and a missile bought from Ukraine in the black market, and now re-engineered to deliver a nuclear warhead to Europe.  These are details and I point to the fact that at the center of both is the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and that is where Ahmadinejad, the new President, has his power.  This is John Batchelor, johnbatchelorshow.com, ABC radio.

ABC Radio Networks

With John Batchelor

August 10, 2005

Iran has built some 4000 centrifuges to be deployed

John Batchelor:  I’m John Batchelor, www.JohnBatchelorShow.com, ABC Radio: Continuing with Erin Klein of World Net Daily.  My help mate here in Gaza Strip, we are near the Mediterranean, and I say this to make Alireza Jafarzadeh, of Strategic Policy Consulting and Fox News Analyst for Foreign Affairs, smile.  Alireza made a lot of people frown yesterday, so I want to make him smile. So why did he make them frown? Because he released his information, very good information, out of Iran that since the last time the IAEA bothered to show up, Iran has built some 4000 centrifuges to be deployed. Not at Isfahan, where all the noise is right now, but at other sites around the country, some known some unknown. Alireza a very good evening to you, congratulations for yesterday and of course I present you with the news from old Europe that  Iran now announced they are breaking IAEA seals at Isfahan, the nuclear reactor site,  nuclear energy site there and proceeds in a usual confrontational manner. I’m sure you expected this. What do you expect to be happening today in the capitals of Europe, when they put your information of the centrifuges together with the information that Iran has broken the seals? Good evening Alireza.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Good evening and I guess I should say good morning John. It’s always great to be on your show. I think you very nicely summed it up. On the one hand you have the Iranian regime, which now has the new radical president, the former commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Then they now appointed, former commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Ali Larijani, to be the new chief nuclear negotiator, making it very clear that Khamene’i, the supreme leader had an agenda by practically selecting Ahmadinejad to become the new president, and the mission is to have all the powers, Executive, Judicial, and Legislative powers fully in the hands of the regime to move forward as rapidly as they can to get the bomb. And I think the attitudes of the Iranian regime in the past few days, is very typical of what you are going to see in the future, type of like “in your face,” very aggressive approach; unilaterally removing the seals in the uranium conversion facility in Isfahan while the negotiating is going in Europe, and I don’t know what Europe is waiting for, because they continued to warn that if Iran violates its own commitments then they are going to refer Iran’s files to the UN Security Council. This is the time to do it.  It has to be done. There is no other alternative that I can possibly think of because anything short of referring Iran’s files to the UN Security Council would mean sending a signal to Tehran that what they have done is okay, that the rest of the world can tolerate their bullying, their aggressive attitude and there is still room to maneuver and Iran can still push the envelope further, that’s what it means.

Erin Klein: Do these recent flagrant violations in anyway affect the ultimate timetable of Iran going nuclear? Does it move it ahead a bit?

John Batchelor:  Is Iran moving faster than you thought? What is your information? Have they speeded up Alireza?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  The point is that the 21 month negotiations, between EU3 and Iran, even though it was portrayed in the West as though it was a negotiation that practically either froze the nuclear weapons program of Tehran or delayed it.  But in reality, this is not the case. In fact, that has helped the Iranian regime to move forward because at no time, in 21 months period, the nuclear weapons program of Iran has even slowed down. While the focus was in Natanz, Iran was in full gear, working in the sites in Arak, working in Kalaye Electric, working in a number of other research centers. Working in Lavizan and Parchin. Those sites-

John Batchelor:  Lets go, lets go to the other sites, last night Alireza Jafarzadeh of Strategic Policy Consultant, FOX News Foreign Affairs Analyst, you mentioned that Isfahan is the show piece that’s where the correspondents of –lets name a couple of guilty parties, roders show up and make nice with the regime, but the 4000 centrifuges are not in Isfahan, your information is that they are in Natanz and other unnamed sites. Is that accurate, that is the fact that the Europe foreign secretaries such as the one in Paris have to deal with. Do I have it correct Alireza?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Yes you have it correct John, you see the information I’ve been getting from the very same sources that have provided very accurate information in the past, the site in Natanz, in Arak, AbAli, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), was instrumental in making those revelations. The information indicates that Iran has manufactured 4000 centrifuge machines ready to be installed in Natanz and they also have the option of installing them in other places and continue to keep it secret. Now the reason it is significant is because it shows that while the negotiations were going on, while Iran had committed itself to stop all enrichment-related activities, Iran actually managed to build 4000 centrifuge machines. It’s a clear violation of its own commitment.

John Batchelor:  And they built those machines with the technology provided by our allies, and that’s part of the story here Alireza.

Erin Klein:  I just about to ask about Russia’s role in Isfahan, are they protecting the sites where involved in the recent violations. Is Russian technology there? 

John Batchelor:  Is it Russian technology, German, French, all of the above Alireza?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Well see the point is, right now as we speak Iran has actually developed a level of nuclear technology that they can do pretty much just about everything on their own. But, what actually led to this level of expertise of Iran, was the support they got from a number of countries. North Korea, China obviously, Russia have been on top of it since the beginning, it was the black market of the A. Q. Khan network that Tehran ended up benefiting much from it, but right now, they can pretty much go on their own.

John Batchelor:  Alireza, you said to the world yesterday and the AP made sure everybody had it, 24, 20 hours ago, 4000 centrifuges. You’re at the center of the storm. In the last 20 has anyone on the national scale, on the international scale, provided a refutation of your declaration? Has anyone come forward and said that’s false? The State Department, Defense Department, the same in Europe, anybody at all, Alireza?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Absolutely not, at least as far as I know. I don’t know of any such refutation. In fact to the contrary there have been other reports that suggest that they corroborate this. The IAEA spokesperson has said that they would very seriously look at this and try to study this.

John Batchelor:  All right Alireza Jafarzadeh, Strategic Policy Consultant, and Fox News Channel Foreign Affair Analyst.  I’m here with Erin Klein. And we’re paying very close attention to Tehran. Tehran’s offense continues with regard to nuclear weapons. But that’s not the only offense; there were shaped charges as Secretary of Defense charged, killing Americans and coalition forces. And there is a budget line that is fueling the terrorist groups here in Gaza, have Erin and I under their guns. You bet we care, Alireza Jafarzadeh told the truth and no one has said he’s wrong, no one. I’m talking about planet earth. It’s been 20 hours, and no one has said that Alireza has it wrong. 4000 centrifuge, what are you going to do about it Paris?  This is John Batchelor with Erin Klein, www.Johnbatchelorshow.com ABC Radio.

ABC Radio Networks

With John Batchelor

August 9, 2005

Bush Administration backing away

from the facts on the ground

A gesture of defiance from Iran today, calculated to catch the world’s attention, uranium yellow cake, the big Isfahan plant. Poised to restart the nuclear conversion there despite European appeals not to.

Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld: It is true that weapons, clearly unambiguously from Iran, have been found in Iraq

President Bush: Just as I was walking in here I received word that the new Iranian President said he was willing to get back to the table. If he did say that I think that’s a positive sign that the Iranians are getting the message that it is not just the United States that is worried about their nuclear programs, but the Europeans are serious and in calling the Iranians to account in negotiating.

JOHN BATCHELOR:    John Batchelor, www.johnbatchelorshow.com, ABC Radio. I am in Jerusalem the holy land, Larry Kudlow of CNBC’s Kudlow & Company, my co-host this evening is in New York in my studio a very good evening to you Mr. Kudlow.

LARRY KUDLOW:  Good evening John you are in Jerusalem and I’m here atop Madison Square Garden where there is a rap concert tonight, oh my gosh.

JOHN BATCHELOR:  I don’t have any rap music for us Larry so we’ll have to pick up the pace here, we’ll talk faster. And Larry the issues of the day for me center upon Gaza and the Gaza strip and I report later this evening …….

…

However right now Larry you and I both know that the issue at hand is Iran and the threat from Tehran. Underlined by the Secretary of Defense’s remarks that Iran is machine-manufacturing shaped charges and shipping them into theater to kill our people, Secretary of Defense said that, John Batchelor didn’t say that, that was Rumy. Now Iran is the source of most of the trouble in the Middle East. The budget line out of Tehran, devoted to Hizbollah, devoted to Hamas, Islamic Jihad, devoted to those characters in the Gaza, whose guns I am under when I am in Gaza. That is Tehran, that is the council of elders, that is the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and that is the nuclear weapons program. We are joined right now by Alireza Jafarzadeh, a friend of mine and a friend f Larry who is in AP story today, Alireza has revealed to the IAEA and to the White House and to the EU3 that Iran is a deceitful villain and that the nuclear weapons program in Iran is intact and proceeding in pace with the building of centrifuges, Alireza good evening to you.

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH:  Good morning John, good evening Larry. It’s great to be on your show.

JOHN BATCHELOR:  Alireza how many centrifuges built in the last several months and what are they going to be used for?

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: Well, according to the information I have gotten from my sources inside Iran, some 4,000 centrifuge machines have been produced by the Iranian regime throughout the 21 months of negotiations with the EU3 while Iran had committed itself to freeze its entire enrichment program including building centrifuge machines showing that Iran has once again cheated. Now these centrifuge machines are clearly most sensitive. They can be used for enriching uranium, both for peaceful purposes but most importantly for building nuclear bombs. And, having 4,000 centrifuge machines, it could be used to produce as many as two bombs a year.

LARRY KUDLOW:  Alireza, are these centrifuges being used in the enrichment facility at Isfahan, which apparently has been re-opened?

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: No they are not to be used in Isfahan. In fact, the centrifuge machines were produced at some facilities in Isfahan in Malek Ashtar University which is run by the Defense Ministry and also other parts were built in Tehran using a number of front companies. The purpose is to eventually having them installed in Natanz when Iran decides to go its way. Or they also have the option of secretly making them operational at some other sites and never bring them under the supervision of the IAEA.

JOHN BATCHELOR: Larry, there is a sense here that there is a crisis and this crisis has long been a conversation on this show and Larry has spoken in length with Alireza on his show. However the President’s remarks today in Texas puzzled me the more when conjoined with this information from the … this is old Europe now telling us that Russia that would be Putin the absolute boss of Russia asks Iran that would be Ahmadinejad and Khamene’i to halt uranium conversion. Alireza, I want to turn the screw a little bit. Is Russia panicking? Has Russia finally figured out that Europe is helpless and Iran means to go nuke?

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH:  This could very well be the case. I’ve seen some statements recently coming on the part of the Russians who, unlike in the past, which they had total faith in the Iranian regime, they are speaking with some level of skepticism. Perhaps because they have felt some kind of pressure coming from the United States and they are responding to that.

LARRY KUDLOW:  But Alireza I am so puzzled by President Bush’s very mild remarks regarding Iran and its … I didn’t hear any discussion about any possible action bringing Iran to Security Council for example, nor did I hear any discussion of potential economic sanctions on Iran. Why do you think Bush has taken such a mild and low key approach? 

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH:  Well that’s what puzzles me as well, because before Iran actually started the operation in the uranium conversion facility in Isfahan, Iran was making threats that they would start it and the position of the United States and some of the European countries was that if you start the activity in Isfahan, we will refer Iran’s file to the United Nations Security Council.

LARRY KUDLOW: But that’s exactly what they have done.

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: That’s exactly what they have done. Not only that, but there were new revelations today that they have actually built 4,000 centrifuge machines while they committed themselves not to build them. So instead of receiving a tough response on the part of the United States and the Europeans with a tough language with a real threat of referring them to the United Nations Security Council and possible sanctions, instead we hear voices saying that they are happy Iran has not abandoned negotiations, that Iran is interested to continue dialog and the negotiations. This is not the case because Iran has always wanted to continue negotiations so long as they can continue to cheat. Iran is not going to abandon the negotiations. What they are trying to do is to drag the talks, buy time, while they are proceeding with their nuclear weapons program. I think what we should hear on the part of the United States is that look, you had your chance, we gave you the opportunity for negotiations, you blew it, this is the end of it. We are going to go right to the Security Council. That’s the kind of language Iran should hear. And that is unfortunately missing.

JOHN BATCHELOR: Alireza Jafarzadeh, Strategic Policy Consulting and Fox News, in this program and Larry’s program, he is the source, I underline this, he is the source of information about Iran’s nuclear weapons program that has been used by the President of the United States over the last year in strategic press conferences to make very clear declarations of  stand and deliver to the Iranian regime which is why Larry’s question and I join with Larry, Larry’s question is accurate as to apparent reaction of the Bush Administration today to back away from the facts on the ground, and Alireza Jafarzadeh, his network in Iran that risks their lives, are the facts on the ground. We are going to turn to oil-for-food program. Alireza I will speak over the next few days on the details of these 4,000 centrifuges. We are going to oil-for-food because the larger war needs the United Nations Security Council to be effective. And as good as we are guys, we can’t do it alone. Next we are going to talk to a member of Congress, a member of the Hyde Committee. The Congress is trying to hold the United Nations accountable. United Nations is filled with villains … thieves, and, frankly, liars.

This is John Batchelor with Larry Kudlow, ABC Radio.

ABC Radio Networks

With John Batchelor

August 5, 2005

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Thank you very much Larry. It’s always great to be on your show.

Larry Kudlow:  There is a powerful story out there that the death of the fourteen U.S. marines a few days ago, killed inside a 27 ton armored vehicle, may have been caused by the Iranians exporting explosives and munitions to Iraq.  Can you tell us about that?  Can you fill in the blanks for us?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  There were reports from some American officials saying that they have detected shipments of explosives coming from Iran through the northern part of Iraq into the country.  These explosive devices are the most powerful and have significantly boosted those who have been trying to attack the Americans.  Among those in the shipment that were confiscated are what they call “Shaped Charges” which were manufactured recently.  Shaped Charges are particularly lethal because they are designed to concentrate and direct a more powerful blast into a small area and this is consistent with what has been happening in the past few days.  In fact they go right through a heavily armored vehicle like a tank, from one side to the other.

Larry Kudlow:  This killed the fourteen U.S. marines?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  It could very well be the case that this recent attack on the marines could have been a result of the new shipment of explosives that have been coming into Iraq over the past few months.

Larry Kudlow:  This explosive is specifically designed to penetrate armor whereas the U.S. thought that their armored vehicles were immune from almost all explosive devices, so you’re saying that we have the Iranians to thank for giving these Iraqi terrorists, or whoever they are, the kind of ammo they need to take our people out.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Yes Larry. This recent explosion flipped a 27 ton vehicle on its top. It blew it some 40ft. down the road. This cannot be done by simple, ordinary roadside bombs. Clearly it was the work of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards who have been putting together these explosives and sending them over to Iraq. There is no way that this could have been done by some ragtag individuals, rather the government is clearly behind this and Iran certainly has an interest in doing that.

Larry Kudlow:  Is this a new policy by Iran? Is this from Ahmadinejad, the new thug, Attila the Hun president of Iran or do you reckon this policy, this approach, these weapons shipments have been in tow for quite some time?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Larry, these shipments have been going on for months and essentially began in the early days, after the fall of Baghdad.  Since then Iran has been heavily involved in Iraq; in terms of sending explosives, weapons, agents, training and intelligence. Now that trend has clearly picked up in recent months because it is in line with recent developments inside Iran. Even though these shipments did not come directly from Ahmadinejad, it is in line with the new trend shaping up in Iran because Supreme Leader Khamene’i has been working for months to strengthen the position of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, both domestically and internationally. Domestically they produced a new president, Ahmadinejad who is a former commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and externally, it will mean increased presence inside Iraq by Iran both politically and militarily.

Larry Kudlow:  Walk through the potential political strategy. In other words, the obvious point is Iran wants to do all it can to disrupt the democratization of Iraq. Therefore, they are helping the counter-revolutionaries, the insurgents, the thugs and so forth who are waging this war against the U.S.-Iraqi Allied forces, but is there a deeper and longer term Iranian strategy that may be in play here besides sheer obstructionism?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Yes, Iran has a broader strategy for the entire region but specifically with regard to Iraq.  Iraq is a special place for Iran.  It has the second most populous Shi’a population in the world after Iran.  It shares about 1400 kilometers or 900 miles of border with Iran and two of the holiest Shi’a sites are located not in Iran but in Iraq.  Iran has always had an eye on Iraq, hoping to establish an Islamic Republic there.  In fact the essence of the continuation of the Iran-Iraq war between 1980 and 1988 was an attempt by Iran to establish an Islamic Republic there.  They have had this agenda regionally for Iraq for decades but beyond Iraq they would like to influence all Islamic countries in the region. 

So what they’re doing, they are helping the insurgents, they are helping those who are perpetrating violence, because what it does, it builds anti-Americanism and instability.  It prevents the new political process to shape in a way that the pro-democracy forces would like to see there.  At the same time Iran already has a structure, an organization inside Iraq which is tilting towards Iran.  The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SCIRI) and the Badr organization, also known as the Badr Corp, and a number of groups who later participated in the political process were either created by Iran or were funded by them, sponsored by them for many years.

Larry Kudlow:  We are talking to Alireza Jafarzadeh, a FOX News Analyst.  Alireza, after the purple revolution, the elections that were held very successfully at the beginning of this year, one would think that the Shi’a down south in Iraq would be less sympathetic with the kind of Islamic Republic that represents totalitarianism of a sort practiced in Iran.  Is that not the case?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  That is the case Larry.  If you go to the ordinary people [in Iraq] they’re not in favor of an Islamic Republic modeled after Iran. But the problem is that the ordinary people do not have their own voice, their own organization, their own structure. To the contrary the Islamic extremists who are the most organized and have been funded for many years [by the Iranian government] are the ones who are running the show. Many of the institutions that are operating in the southern part of Iraq including in Basrah were the ones that were heavily connected to Iran.  That’s why Iran is trying to prevent the natural political process in Iraq which would move towards democracy, by derailing it towards a fundamentalist and extremist direction.

Larry Kudlow:  The presumption has to be that the military forces are aware of this weapons transfer coming in from Iran.  To your knowledge have the U.S.-Iraqi Allied forces taken any particular steps to stop this?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  The United States has cautiously warned Iran on a number of occasions. In fact on Thursday, Secretary Rumsfeld accused Iran of trying to derail the democratic process in Iraq and I have no doubt that he had in mind some of these most recent activities.  I think the United States needs to be more forceful and more direct and hold Iran responsible for what they’re doing and making them pay for it.

Larry Kudlow:  Otherwise our men and women will be in harm’s way, even more than usual.  This has been Alireza Jafarzadeh of FOX News.  We appreciate you coming on.  I’m Larry Kudlow of CNBC, Kudlow & Company.  I’m here for John Batchelor, www.JohnBatchelorShow.com and we are here on ABC radio.

ABC Radio Networks

With John Batchelor

August 3, 2005

Larry Kudlow: Hello everybody, I am Larry Kudlow of CNBC Kudlow and company, grateful to be filling in for my friend John Batchelor at the www.JohnBatchelorShow.com on ABC radio.  We have with us this evening Alireza Jafarzadeh who is a Foreign Affairs Analyst for FOX News.  Alireza, welcome this evening.

Alireza Jafarzadeh: Thank you very much Larry, it’s great to be on your show.

Larry Kudlow: We’ve got news and news. We’re going to focus on Iran here.  The new so-called president of Iran; it was a phony election, it was kind of a nineteen thirties Hitler style deal where the religious clerics surrounded him, Ahmadinejad kissed the ring or the hand of Ayatollah Khamene’i.  This is a bad story.  Nothing but trouble is going to come of this.  This guy is a strong anti American player.  What do you make of this?

Alireza Jafarzadeh: This clearly shows where Iran is heading and what the so called elections of the new president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad means. Because interestingly when he was given his approval by Khamene’i, as the new president of the regime he was not only surrounded by the Supreme Leader, but the outgoing president Mohammad Khatami, Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the Expediency Council.  In that event Khamene’i attacked the United States and called the United States a Great Satan saying that the United States cannot do anything and that Iran will go its own way, clearly showing what direction the new administration of Ahmadinejad is going to take; it is going to be even more hard line than it was before.  Ahmadinejad said to the media that he is going to run a pure Islamic state, implying that the previous administrations of Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, both of which were very anti-American, were not Islamic enough and he is going to take a more strict line both domestically and internationally.

Larry Kudlow: A greater dictatorship. More of a totalitarian who will undoubtedly attempt to crush the pro democracy movement in Iran which is starting to get some support from the United States. He will also be financing terrorism throughout the Middle East especially in Iraq and Syria and probably Palestine as well. This is a bad news for this country is it not Alireza?

Alireza Jafarzadeh: It is.  You mentioned about how he is going to crush the democracy movement inside Iran; since yesterday, there have been major clashes breaking out in cities in the Iranian-Kurdish region, Kurdistan province and also Azerbaijan province. At least eleven people have died today in the city of Saghez. Yesterday in Sanandaj, at least two people were killed and dozens were injured. The state security forces are stepping up their activities against the population, intimidating the youth because they are afraid that there are going to be more outbursts. Also, yesterday and today there were demonstrations in Iran against the British embassy. Burning the British flag and yesterday, there was a bomb that went off in front of the British Airways, British Petroleum and Daimler Chrysler in Tehran clearly signaling that the supporters of Ahmadinejad are trying to play hardball both domestically and internationally. They are going to pressure the Europeans to soften their position when it comes to Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

Larry Kudlow:  Just one more take on the domestic front. The human rights refusenik Ganji is dying in jail in Iran. He is not going to get any help from this new thug is he?  And we learned yesterday that an assassin on a motorcycle killed the judge who originally sentenced Ganji.  No one knows what that means, probably internal politics. We are looking at repression, killing, murders, dictatorship and more of the same.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  This is a clear indication, I think that Ahmadinejad is going to get much tougher on individuals like Akbar Gangi and others who are already protesting inside Iran. He has already said that he is not going to tolerate anything that would threaten the existence of the Islamic Republic. His own background as a commander in the Revolutionary Guard demonstrates that he himself was involved in suppressing the students.

Larry Kudlow:  He was an assassin.  There is evidence from Austria and elsewhere that he himself was an assassin at one time.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  He was an assassin when he was in the Jerusalem Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards but also domestically, he was stationed at Evin, the notorious Evin prison for a couple of years and he was a security commander of the prison and it was reported that he himself has been involved in shooting coup de grace at the prisoners. Also at the university in the early days of the revolution, he was heavily involved in suppressing the students, turning over anti-regime students to the authorities, many of whom were later executed.

Larry Kudlow:  You could argue that in a moment where there is a pro democracy tilt in that region, certainly the purple revolution elections in Iraq, hopefully have the Lebanese elections, even the partial democratization going on in Egypt and maybe even at some of pressure from the pro democracy forces in Syria, and let’s not forget the Palestinian elections. Iran, alone in the region is moving in the exact opposite direction. Instead of any democratization tilt whatsoever they are moving towards a clearer, harder line, a totalitarian approach. Am I right?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  You are absolutely right Larry. As far as the regime is concerned, the regime is increasingly moving toward that direction because they are threatened by the same wave of the move toward democracy. There is an even stronger wave inside Iran on the part of the Iranian population. There has been an increase in the activities of the Iranian youth and the students, the antigovernment opposition groups inside and outside of the country who are stepping up their activities and raise their voice to protest. The regime is increasingly being threatened by its own population.  That’s why it is not going to tolerate any voice of dissent because they are afraid if they step back, if they provide the opportunity, they could be swept away from the political scene of Iran and the pro democracy forces are going to succeed.

Larry Kudlow:  I don’t use the Hitler analogy loosely or in any sense off the cuff. I think it is an apt analogy.  Now let me switch gears just a little bit. The same government of course, Iranian representatives are now telling the European Union three, Britain, France and Germany and the IAEA that their decision to resume uranium conversion activities is irreversible. Yes they are willing to keep yapping but now they are on at the direction of informally developing an atomic bomb. What do you make of that?  Does the IAEA have any clout? Does the Euro three have any clout?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Larry, the fact that Iran in a very brazen way, blunt way is making such statements and such threatening measures is a clear indication that the momentum has shifted. Because the European Union has been so soft, so compromising, so appeasing and the IAEA has not pursued a tough line on Iran.  This has turned the whole situation around in favor of the Iranian regime. It is now Iran that is on the offensive and has threatened that if the Europeans do not do such and such, the Iranians will resume uranium enrichment.

Larry Kudlow: Alireza Jafarzadeh, you know that it could turn out that on his first day at the United Nations John Bolton just might have a bit of a Security Council crisis on his hands but only if the United States takes them there.  This is Larry Kudlow subbing for John Batchelor.  www.JohnBatchelorShow.com, ABC radio. 

ABC Radio Networks With John Batchelor

July 1, 2005

JOHN BATCHELOR: John Batchelor, johnbatchelor.com, ABC Radio. The newly selected president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ahmadinejad, who is he? Where does he come from? Hostages taker in the embassy story, 1979, now coming forward, multiple sources, to say that he was one of the hostage takers that they remember him specifically, there are photographs. Alireza Jafarzadeh, Strategic Policy Consulting and Fox News Channel, told me more than two weeks ago this man was one of the student radicals. He told me that he voted to storm the Soviet Embassy. So now we turn to, first, Alireza, is this the man the hostages remember? Can we be clear if he is in those pictures? And does it matter?

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: First of all, John, even before the hostages came forward and shared with the rest of the world their recollection of their captor, I had solid information from sources inside Iran, who had relayed to me that Mahmood Ahmadinejad was not only involved in the embassy take over for 444 days but he was one of the key planners of embassy take over. Some two to three weeks before the embassy was taken over, there was a meeting consisting of five members of the Coordinating Committee of the Office for the Consolidation of Unity which was the student body that was basically put together by Khomeini to take over the universities who were at the time increasingly anti-cleric. And this was the very foundation of the organization that later took over the embassy. And at the highest office of that organization sat Mahmood Ahmadinejad. He represented one of the five top universities in that committee. He was from Elm-o-San’at University which is the University of Science and Technology and he has clearly been involved in the planning and carrying out that attack. So what the hostages are now saying simply adds to it. Now whether the picture actually is Ahmadinejad’s picture or not I think that’s moot. It’s totally irrelevant.

JOHN BATCHELOR: What is important here is to link him with the revolution from its earliest day. When it turned against the West and the East, neither the East nor the West. That was the call of the revolution at that time and it was linked with the ayatollah, with the mullahs. Since then he’s gone through a transformation with the thugs in the street, with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. So here is this a revolutionary or is this part of a military coup?

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: Well, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as you correctly said, since day one was fully committed to Khomeini and later to the Supreme Leader Khamenei. He was the one who was carrying out the dirty work for the ayatollahs. He started with the university and after they completely shut down the universities--it was closed for three years--he quickly moved to the Revolutionary Guards, he became a member of the Revolutionary Guards. Then he moved to command structure of the Revolutionary Guards. He later became a member of one of the deadliest forces of the Revolutionary Guards known as the Jerusalem force, the Qods forces, (Qods means Jerusalem), which define themselves, the responsibility of the Quds Forces is extraterritorial operations, which is an euphemism for terrorism, and I know for fact that Ahmadinejad was based in Ramadan Garrison which is in western part of Iran, near the Iraqi border. Ramadan Garrison has been the headquarters of the Jerusalem Force. And he was clearly there not for any good reasons, he was involved in a number of terrorist attacks outside of Iran including a number of assassinations, among them the assassination of a Kurdish leader Dr. Abdolrahman Qasemlou who was killed in 1989 in his flat in Vienna, Austria.

JOHN BATCHELOR: Does that mean he traveled to Vienna or was coordinating the assassination from Iran?

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: He was behind it, he was a coordinating person, he was a liaison, between the teams that actually carried out the attacks.

JOHN BATCHELOR: So we do not know if he was in Vienna or he traveled to Europe prior to that assassination.

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: For that particular assassination I don’t know if he actually traveled or not but he has traveled extensively to Europe all throughout these years.

JOHN BATCHELOR: Under his own name? Under assumed names? Or as a terrorist he has been disguising himself?

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: I am sure they have all kinds of different passports disguising their trips. I have no doubt about that.

JOHN BATCHELOR: I am speaking with Alireza Jafarzadeh and we are talking about the man who is now said to be President of Iran with regard to negotiation with EU3 where we now heard he was key to an assassination in Europe. So the EU3 now sits down to face a man who has blood on his hands and they know it. These are not secrets, correct Alireza?

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: Absolutely not, I mean this guy is so despised that even a number of other people from within the regime are attacking him or talking about him. Some in a positive way that they try to give his credentials and some who are rivals, they all talk about his role in suppressing the Iranians. For instance, he was stationed in the notorious Evin prison where he was involved in murdering political prisoners. There was another report that says he actually, physically fired coup de grace to finish off political prisoners. So he is clearly a person who has blood on his hands. Now the EU3 has to face a regime that had a murderer moving up in its system to the highest level of office and he has been very adamant in proceeding with the nuclear program of the Iranian regime and I think Europe has to decide which way they are going to go?

JOHN BATCHELOR: The man’s name is Ahmadinejad, he is the president, however there is an apparatus called the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp that is shadowy, it has generals, it has secret intelligence, it has the Jerusalem Force as Alireza has said. I’ve been told to view what is happening in Iran as a military coup. Is that one way of looking at his ascend?

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: Well, I wouldn’t call it a military coup, I would call it a coup by the Supreme Leader, Khamenei, to further consolidate power in his hands but the organ that actually carried this mission for him has been his most loyal force, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. So it is not a separate military entity, the Revolutionary Guards are totally dedicated to the Supreme Leader. So, overall, I would say this is one step to further consolidate the position of the Supreme Leader. This is the first time since the revolution that you have all significant decision-making organs of the regime coming under the control of one person.

JOHN BATCHELOR: Finally, Alireza Jafarzadeh of Fox News Channel and Strategic Policy Consulting, I’ve been told that Ahmadinejad is going to launch a new revolution. Does that mean aggression and does that mean the attacks will increase? Not only low intensity warfare but in other areas where they fund terrorist campaigns to assassinate expatriate Iranians?

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: John, Ahmadinejad has not become president, has not been selected to become president without a mission. He certainly has a mission to carry on and that is to suppress the Iranian population inside the country and to extend the terror beyond the Iranian borders. It’s very possible that they could target Iranian dissidents outside of the country. Also, I would add to it, he would see to what they call exporting the revolution beyond Iranian borders to Iraq. You’re going to see stepped-up efforts on the part of Iran in terms of trying to influence the political process there, you are going to see stepped-up support for the terrorist groups in the Middle East, and clearly as a result of all of that you are going to see further hostility between Iran and the United States.

JOHN BATCHELOR: Alireza Jafarzadeh, Fox News Channel, this is John Batchelor, www.johnbatchelorshow.com, ABC Radio.

ABC Radio Networks

With John Batchelor

June 24, 2005

John Batchelor:  I’m John Batchelor, www.JohnBatchelorShow.com, ABC Radio.  Alireza Jafarzadeh Foreign Affairs Analyst for FOX News Channel and Strategic Policy Consulting reports now on the fraud of the second round of the fraudulent Iranian elections.  This time between Hashemi Rafsanjani, the old boss, the Richelieu, the father of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the richest man in Iran, perhaps the richest man in the world, we don’t know, his reach is vast.  And the new guy, Alireza has identified him as a man not to be trusted but pretty much unknown on the world scale.  His name is Ahmadinejad, I call him Robespierre.  Alireza good evening and let’s go to the facts of the fraud.  You have been receiving reports for the last 24 hours about the non-voting in Iran.  Please explain.

Alireza Jafarzadeh: Thank you very much John, I’ve been receiving reports from various cities throughout the country, and not just Tehran, but even some small cities.  Thousands of voting stations were monitored by independent individuals, many of whom are supporters of the Iranian opposition who wanted to see for themselves what the situation really is.  The reports I’ve gotten clearly show that the people have basically stayed out of the voting stations.  I have received many pictures that show the voting stations were deserted.  I would like to give you a brief report for instance:

In Tabriz in East Azerbaijan Province which is Iran’s fourth most populated city, various reports I’ve gotten indicate--I have them by name--that the voting stations were empty or at most there were three, five or seven people.

In Isfahan, central Iran which is the third most populated city in Iran, for instance in Imam Hadi Mosque, polling station number 25 there were twelve security guards, only seven voters.  In Dehkhoda mosque, polling station number 32, there were eleven security guards with ten voters, Chemran Mosque, fourteen guards along with only seven voters. 

I have detailed reports from Garmsar, this is the city that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was born was totally empty, the streets were deserted. 

I have reports from Khoramobad in west Iran, in Boroujerd in southwest Iran, from Qazvin in central Iran, in Paveh in the western part of the country, Gonaveh, and then Minab, Oshnovieh, Yazd, Bandar-Abbas down south and reports from Kangavar, Ahang, Shiraz, Zanjan, Qom, Boroujerd.

Some of these cities you may recognize.  Some are very small cities and the general reporting indicates that the people were not interested in going to the voting stations.  They were just laughing at the mullahs and leaving the whole scene to the mullahs to fight one another.

John Batchelor:  I’m speaking with Alireza Jafarzadeh of FOX News Channel and Strategic Policy Consulting.  He is an Iranian, an Iranian patriot and we are reporting in detail, much more important detail than you’re going to get from the BBC for example that only have a reporter in Tehran to my knowledge that is reporting a large turnout which is laughable in the face of the detail that Alireza and his sources just provided but I want to go to one city that I think everyone will recognize.  Qom, which is mullah’s central, this is the birthplace of these characters calling themselves the Council of Elders.  The voting there, was it light also Alireza and what were the mullahs doing about it?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Qom was also particularly low, but as you know Qom is where the theological schools are and that was actually the scene of a lot of the infighting amongst the factions.  Ahmadinejad’s supporters were rallying their people, putting them in cars and buses, taking them to the voting stations and on the other side Rafsanjani’s people were basically complaining. 

The reports I’ve been getting are that Rafsanjani supporters are complaining that the Revolutionary Guards and the paramilitary Basij, the Friday prayer leaders and members of the Islamic Propaganda Organization who are all very loyal to the supreme leader are trying to get their people to go to the voting stations, stuffing ballot boxes and other things.  In Mashad for example, my hometown in northeast Iran which is Iran’s second most populated city, Rafsanjani’s campaign chairman has complained, some one who is very close to him reported to me, that the Revolutionary Guards commanders were bullying people to vote for Ahmadinejad.  Everywhere you go you see this infighting between the two factions, between Rafsanjani and Ahmadinejad but because it seems to me that the Revolutionary Guards have sided with Ahmadinejad so it is very likely that he will come out as the winner.

John Batchelor:  I want to identify the factions that are emerging here from this ballot stuffing because what you have is two gangs stuffing ballots and making accusations against each other and meanwhile the younger people of Iran are standing by laughing at them and the older people of Iran bitterly have to suffer these fools because they have guns and they are brutes and it’s going to get worse.  The Revolutionary Guard Council supports Ahmadinejad, he is one of them.  He comes out of the street gangs of the revolution.  The old man Rafsanjani is supported by the mullahs and the rich because he is one of the richest men in the country and so therefore the ballot stuffing is coequal.  These are two rascals going after one another.  The reason Ahmadinejad is winning is because he’s younger and one of the Revolutionary Guards which is in a sense a military coup, that’s what you’re describing here Alireza. The Revolutionary Guards out stuffed the mullah’s factotums therefore the revolution has now turned into a military dictatorship.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  What’s happening is that because the vast majority of the people stayed out of the electoral process it has boiled down to the fight between Rafsanjani and Khamene’i even though they’re not much different at all as you very correctly described them as two gangs.  What Rafsanjani was trying to do in the late stages of his campaign was to say that “if I don’t win, you’re going to see religious fascism dominating the country” as if he is not one of them, and trying to reach out to the middle class in Tehran, in the northern part of Tehran, trying to see if he can get them to vote.  It seems as though this hasn’t worked. Because my understanding of the inner circle of the regime is that they are no more than 10% of the eligible voters. So the fight is really between that 10%. What Rafsanjani was trying to do was to broaden the circle and reach out beyond that 10%, this is the only way that he could defeat Ahmadinejad and the reports that I’m getting are that he is behind and that shows clearly that he has not succeeded in reaching out to the ordinary people.

John Batchelor:  One detail Alireza, am speaking with Alireza Jafarzadeh of FOX News Channel and Strategic Policy Consulting.  And the grand ayatollah has chosen Ahmadinejad does that mean the grand ayatollah has chosen the path of confrontation with the United States and with the IAEA?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:  Certainly, but that does not mean that he had not chosen this before; rather he is more determined this time. That shows that he is determined.  The only way that he thinks he can succeed is to have a more strict person, a person who is most loyal to him and who relies most heavily on him, even more than Rafsanjani and relies heavily on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and who would seek a confrontational line against the United States and against countries in the region.

So if Ahmadinejad wins, which seems to be the case, you’re going to see a tougher line at the IAEA level with the nuclear issue, they’re not going to back down on anything, you’re going to see more meddling in the internal affairs of Iraq, sending more Revolutionary Guards to Iraq and domestically also you’re not going to see any kind of relief on the population, particularly women.

John Batchelor:  Alireza Jafarzadeh, we are awaiting the ballot stuffing results from the second round between Robespierre and Richelieu.  I’m John Batchelor, www.JohnBatchelorShow.com, ABC Radio.

ABC Radio Networks

With John Batchelor

May 31, 2005

Iranian violated the NPT agreement, we found out they violated the agreement, and therefore they are not to be trusted when it comes to highly enriched Uranium. 

Announcer:

The Iranian foreign ministry official Hamid Reza Asefi said in Kuwait that Iran will inevitably resume its Uranium enrichment program. He has also said that Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty and seeks no weapons of mass destruction.

Dr. Condoleezza Rice:

In the last nine months alone, the United States and ten of our PSI partners have quietly cooperated on eleven successful efforts. For example, PSI cooperation stopped the train shipment of materials and equipment bound for ballistic missile programs in countries of concern including Iran. PSI partners, working at times with others have prevented Iran from acquiring goods to support its missile and WMD programs including its nuclear program.

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: Good Evening, John. Yes, that’s true the EU3 negotiations with Iran resulted not in a decisive statement by the EU3 against Iran, rather by providing Iran an opportunity, another two, possibly three months, before any serious next step after that.

JOHN BATCHELOR: And the aim of Iran now is to drag this out. Why? How does that gain Iran?

JOHN BATCHELOR: Alireza explain something to me, the group of three, Britain, France, and Germany. In France and Germany, Chirac and Schroeder are political perishables who just perished. Now, I would say that’s a big win for Iran because there is going to be chaos in both of those governments for many months to come.

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: Well, that’s true. I think the Europeans now being represented by these three countries and I know there are other countries who are not very happy with the way EU3 is handling the entire European issue in dealing with Iran. But I think there is a lot of economic interest involved here. The French have huge interest, economic interest, in Iran both in terms of their oil contracts as well as their contracts with the auto industry, and selling Airbus to Iran. So they definitely don’t want to put pressure on Iran and the Germans also follow, they have their own economic interest as well.  But I think the way things are going they are both going to be faced with trouble in their own countries because I don’t think the public opinion either in France or Germany would agree with cutting this much slack for Iran.

JOHN BATCHELOR: I am speaking with Alireza Jafarzadeh of the Strategic Policy Consulting and Fox News Channel about Iran and having its way with the Europeans. I want to push this a little bit, right now Alireza watch this very carefully. You have the Farsi, you have the many foreign languages. Iran looks to be in the driving seat except for George W. Bush, George W. Bush did not when he was alone in going after Baghdad. Do you believe at this point that EU3 understands that George W. Bush would not hesitate going after Tehran when there is clear and present danger of Iran testing a nuclear weapon?

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH:  Well, I hope they get this message and I would push it a lot more forceful to leave no doubt in the minds of Europeans and particularly also the regime itself. I think we need to see a stepped up effort up here in Washington to back what President Bush has said. President Bush called Iran a member of the axis of evil, has said repeatedly that it is not acceptable for the regime to develop a nuclear weapons program, that the United States would not tolerate Iran having the ability to enrich uranium and President Bush has stated clearly that America would stand on the side of the Iranian people.

JOHN BATCHELOR:  So, Alireza excuse me does that mean that Iran hears the fact that we are not waiting for the EU3. Do they hear that? Are they deaf to that in Tehran?

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: I hope this is what they get. I hope that. What one would need to do to make sure that they get this message is that to have statements by the officials that if the negotiations would not go the way that they are supposed to go then the world, the rest of the world, is not going to wait for EU3, the United States is not going to wait for that, the Iranian people have clearly not waited for anybody negotiating anything out of this. So I think that message should be sent very sound and very clear to Iran that there is no way out of this.

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: Well Larry I can’t agree with you more. I think specially at this juncture, this time of the negotiations what you need to see is consistency and decisiveness coming from Washington…

LARRY KUDLOW: Because every thing he says you know this isn’t just about Iran, this is about North Korea, probably the most interesting people watching today were the North Koreans and he is sending this ambivalent message, how is that possible?

JOHN BATCHELOR: Larry, Larry Kudlow asking for clarity from the State Department, we don’t have to say this five times, so I just underline the fact. Larry wants clarity State Department, I know you are listening just stop writing the compound sentences and stay in one direction, all right? And the White House would go along with you. Alireza, I thank you, we are not going to ask you to answer the questions, the State Department hasn’t given us answers for you. Alireza Jafarzadeh, Fox News Channel, Strategic Policy Consultant, Larry Kudlow of CNBC, how dare you ask the State Department for clarity? This is John Batchelor, johnbatchelorshow.com, ABC Radio

ABC Radio Networks

With John Batchelor

April 16, 2005

Iran Suppressing Anti-Government Demonstrations in Khuzestan

The center of the confrontation has been the provincial capital, Ahwaz but there have been other cities. Abadan, Mahshahr, Shoosh have also been involved and since yesterday other cities such as Masjid-Soleiman, was also involved in the antigovernment demonstrations. In the city of Ahwaz, there are at least thirteen different regions of Ahwaz that have been involved in antigovernment demonstrations. The regime brought in six different repressive organs, some from other states to suppress the populations including special anti-riots forces, the Revolutionary Guards, the Ministry of Intelligence and the Ansar Hezbollah to attack the population--who were in many cases empty handed.

They fired on them in Ahwaz and an eighteen year old boy, his name is Ismail Mansouri was killed when the Revolutionary Guards killed him at point blank. At least 400 people have been injured. Most of those who have been killed have been youths from the ages of 18 to 22. The people are chanting slogans, “Death to the clerical system, Death to Khamene’i, death to Khatami,” rejecting the entirety of this regime, saying that we want a free democratic republic.

John Batchelor: I’m speaking with Alireza Jafarzadeh of FOX News Channel, he’s the President of Strategic Policy Consulting, and we’re looking at a story, my memory; help me Alireza, I go back now to 2003, the demonstrations, identified as student demonstrations at the time, this is the time when the Canadian Iranian journalist was murdered outside of a prison. Those demonstrations, the reports were entirely in Tehran, and the suppression was in Tehran. The students driving around in Tehran were blocked, they were still out on the streets but it went away. What you’re reporting now is not about Tehran, the big city with the media but in very small cities by comparison, in part two of the country that enjoyed no economic advantages that are not associated with the Farsi suburban middle class and elite of Tehran that are in fact what we would call in this country is working class. Have I got it correct?

Alireza Jafarzadeh: You’ve got it right John. There were lots of demonstrations going on, antigovernment demonstrations particularly by the students in Tehran at least since 1999 but this is significant because, asyou correctly pointed out, this is the area down south in Khuzestan. There wasn’t as much going on in Khuzestan in the last two years as there was in Tehran. So it is significant that you have the ordinary people, the working class. A lot of them work in the oil field areas. They are not all well to do and it’s not limited to just one city.  It has expanded and since yesterday three more cities have been involved.  These are smaller towns and the focus whether it’s in smaller cities or larger ones is up against the regime and they’re calling for the end to the rule of theocracy. 

Interestingly, two days ago the Defense Minister, Brigadier General Shamkhani went to Ahwaz personally to control the situation and he went to an area in Ahwaz known as Deeyaran. The people of Ahwaz, they recognized him sitting in the car. They attacked the car, they threw stones at it. He had to leave the scene.

That’s the level of anger you see inside the country. The regime is extremely unpopular. The population is ready to change the regime. What we need to see is that the international community comes to understand this, and to do what they need to do in expressing support in every way possible for the people, the dissatisfied people and to the opposition groups who are calling for regime change.

The resistance leader Maryam Rajavi, as soon as these riots started down south, she called for all the people in the country to go and help the people of Khuzestan Province in terms of providing medical supplies and also do the same things in other provinces. We need to echo that on the part of the international community, on the part of the United States government to support the population and encourage them, instead of keeping silent.

John Batchelor: I’m speaking with Alireza Jafarzadeh and there has been a long understanding that Iran is too hard a nut to crack.  Too tough, too rich, too powerful, too dangerous to crack the way Iraq was cracked.  The way it an invasion force in Iraq brought liberation to the people and calls for an internal revolt to throw off the mullahs at the top. That’s very much what I’m hearing right now and I’m going to make a note here, Khuzestan province, of all the regions of Iran my reading Alireza is that that this is the one that has suffered the most in Iran’s war with Iraq.  The most people were lost here and the population is the youngest here because of the depredation of the war.

Alireza Jafarzadeh: You are absolutely correct John. Khuzestan province, they have suffered a lot during the war.  In fact some cities were virtually wiped out and had to be rebuilt. But the people have not lost focus. I think they have kept in mind that the enemy of the Iranian people has been and continues to be the Ayatollahs ruling Iran.

I agree with you that even though Iran is a much bigger country than Iraq--it’s three times as populated and four times as big as Iraq, and has lots of resources--but at the same time the people are so dissatisfied and ready to change the regime. And this is what we really need to do to help the population. Not only do I think it helps the people of Iran I think it helps the rest of the world because this is a regime that is not only suppressing its own population but is threatening the rest of the world. Iran is now meddling in the internal affairs of Iraq, trying to establish an Islamic Republic there, they are supporting all these terrorist groups in the region, they’re opposing peace in the Middle East, they have a very ambitious and a very dangerous nuclear weapons program that if left unchecked, within a year to three years they can get a nuclear weapon. This is going to be a disaster if Iran succeeds both domestically and internationally.

Alireza Jafarzadeh interview with John Batchelor

ABC Radio Networks

With John Batchelor

March 31, 2005

JOHN BATCHELOR: John Batchelor, www.JohnBatchelorShow.com, ABC Radio, Alireza Jafarzadeh  of FOX News Channel, who is very familiar with the releases of information of the dissident group the NCRI, quoted by the president of the United States as being the reason the United States had actionable material about the nuclear weapons program in Iran within hours, I am speaking to Alireza about our major concerns of the program going forward and being shown to a stupefied press by president Khatami. That’s in Natanz, information emerges in Paris from the NCRI. More damaging nuclear weapons material being developed at another site in Iran. However, we must lead with the major threat which is a budget; A budget in Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. Good evening Alireza

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: Good Evening John

JOHN BATCHELOR: In Paris, in this news cycle, Mohammad Mohaddessin speaking for the NCRI has announced that Iran has a budget line to acquire nuclear weapons, tell me about it.

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: Well in a press conference, Mr. Mohaddessin, who is actually the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance, said that in a meeting that was held in mid 2004, it was a secret meeting attended by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenie and a number of other officials and in that meeting it was decided that Iran would proceed with its nuclear weapons program and then Khamene’i allocated two and a half billion dollars in order for the regime to buy three nuclear warheads.

JOHN BATCHELOR: Three nuclear warheads, and do we know where they intended to buy them and weather they have been successful or not?

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: No, none of that is clear yet, but the fact that they have allocated this budget specifically for three warheads tells me that they knew what they were doing. They had specific plans because we are not talking in general, we are talking about a specific project which is nuclear warheads so they certainly had a plan, they knew who they were going to go to and I have no idea whether they have been successful or not.

JOHN BATCHELOR: These warheads, they need warheads because even if their nuclear weapons fuel cycle that they have right now is successful there is no reason to believe that they can miniaturize the nuclear weapon, the nuclear bombs that they build, because you must miniaturize the bombs that you build to put them on the missiles that Iran is developing, the Shahab III, IV, and V with technology they have gotten from among others the North Koreans and among others the Chinese, the PRC, so right now we are dealing with a situation where they need nuclear warheads that fit on their missiles. That’s what we have. So let’s go to the other information we have from the NCRI. This is fresh, this is in Farsi. This is just coming through because Alireza is helping us. Arak, what is the information there.

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: Well, Arak is a city 150 miles south of Tehran but in Arak in august of 2002, I revealed that Iran was building a heavy water facility which was kept secret until then. Ever since, there have been inspections to this site. Now there has been much progress since 2002. First the heavy water production plant in Arak which is supposed to produce heavy water is near completion it’s moving forward. There were some delays because the plans were suppose to be done by October of this year but there were some delays that it would be completed in the summer of 2006. But the most significant thing is that the heavy water reactor that is being built next to this heavy water production plant that once completed the heavy water is going to be used as a moderator for the heavy water reactor which can produce plutonium which is a fissile material for a bomb. The information shows that Iran will be able to produce ten kilograms of plutonium which is enough for one bomb so if everything goes properly, by the end of 2007 Iran will be able to get at least one bomb as a result of their work in Arak only.

JOHN BATCHELOR: I’m speaking with Alireza Jafarzadeh and he is helping us understand what the press reports from Paris, you can see them at Reuters and other sites from the press statements made in Paris this morning from Mohammad Mohaddessin of the NCRI and I want everyone to be able to follow along here to know how little and how much we know from the satellite images. Now you can go to my website www.JohnBatchelorShow.com and see an older image of Arak. This suspect site south of Tehran and in the center right, in the complex of structures that is where the heavy water plant is to be developed but in the center left you see a flat area and that flat area is in updated photos, according to this press release where the heavy water reactor is, you can see it right now and it is being rushed. Is that correct Alireza?

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: Exactly, what they did, in the past two weeks Iran has stepped up efforts to rush this. They are working double shifts in Arak. There are a number of front companies that have been involved in the construction of this. One of them is called Mesbah Energy company which is in fact a front company of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. There are a number of top engineers who are working on this. Another company is called the Rah-Kar Industrial Company which is responsible for the heavy water reactor next to it. It’s also an organization associated to the Atomic Energy Organization and the other is Energy Noveen Company. These are the three major companies involved in the construction and they are speeding up the process. Iran has told the IAEA that they expect the completion of this site by 2014 where as in reality they are moving forward, the whole thing will be done in 2006 or 2007 at the latest.

JOHN BATCHELOR: I want to go over this because it is a great amount of detail but I need you to know, all of you to know that this is the front line of information about the secret nuclear weapons program in Iran, an enemy of the united States supporting Syria, supporting Al-Qaeda, supporting the enemies of the United States and its allies. These are very smart, wealthy people. The money is coming in from the price of a barrel of oil. Their relationship with the Peoples Republic of China, their relationships with India, relations with many other countries in the world that are nuclear rich already lock them into an array, a network that makes them feel secure. At the same time they want their own nuclear weapons. We have one report within this news cycle of Iran’s budget, because this is run like a major corporation. Iran’s budget, two and a half billion dollars to acquire three nuclear weapons, three nuclear weapons that we presume to be put on a missile to launce a missile, for the threat of a missile. At that same time Alireza is pointing to Arak, a known site, and information, fresh information that they are rushing to complete the heavy water reactor because that can be a source of plutonium and that plutonium would make it a lot  easier for them to build a bomb. Do I have that right Alireza?

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: Yes you have it right and I think this shows that Iran is using parallel ways to acquire fissile material. They have the centrifuge path that they are pursuing in Natanz and they have this heavy path in Arak and then last week we talked about laser enrichment that Iran is also pursuing. They are using everything available to them. They are going through every effort to acquire a nuclear weapons program. This is by no means what they are portraying. They are saying we only have a nuclear energy program and we have no intention of building a nuclear weapons program but the whole thing the way it is operating is very secret and every month there is a new revelation coming out of Iran that shows Iran has a nuclear weapons program and I think the Europeans really need to get their act together and get tough an get serious on Iran because Iran is buying time, it’s dragging its feet in the negotiations while proceeding with its program at all levels.

JOHN BATCHELOR: Alireza Jafarzadeh of the FOX News Channel, also very well informed, very good information comes from the NCRI in Paris. This is John Batchelor, www.JohnBatchelorShow.com ABC Radio.

With John Batchelor

March 30, 2005

JOHN BATCHELOR: I’m John Batchelor, www.JohnBatchelorShow.com ABC Radio. Iran, secret nuclear weapons program, several sites, they have very important names that have been much in the news over the last years because the work of one organization, the NCRI, the National Council of Resistance of Iran bringing forward information, undeniable information that has been actionable not only by the IAEA, the United Nation’s enforcement wing against nuclear proliferation but also by the president of the United States and the National Security team of the United States as recently as within the last two weeks the President pointing to a dissident group the NCRI being the one that has identified the secret nuclear weapons plants. Today within this news cycle, Iran attempting to respond in public, with public relations the serving president of Iran inviting journalists into one of these sites first exposed by the NCRI as a secret nuclear weapons site. Alireza Jafarzadeh, who speaks with close knowledge of the work of the NCRI who is also with FOX News channel, joins me tonight because President Khatami’s show and tell with the journalists today needs much comment. First of all Alireza, good evening to you. When last we spoke we spoke of another facility, Parchin and you identified a new part of the Parchin facility as suspect of using laser technology. Tonight we are speaking of Natanz where here to for, within the last three years you’ve identified centrifuge array technology; this is all a part of the nuclear weapons program. Where did President Khatami take these so called journalist or this team of journalists within the last twenty four hours, at Natanz?

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: Well Khatami in what appeared to be clearly a staged show took a number of journalists, most of them Iranian journalists to only a portion of the site in Natanz which is a huge site, about 1100 acres but the journalists were only taken the two large underground halls which were basically empty halls. They were not taken to the pilot facility where they have more than one thousand centrifuge machines there. The journalists were not shown any centrifuges at all but they were only allowed to see the extent and the level of advancement, the money they had spent there and also air defense missile system around.

JOHN BATCHELOR: Natanz, the facility at Natanz is a vast campus and Alireza and the NCRI’s revelations of the last three years have identified one portion of it where your information is there are centrifuge arrays. This is important in the development of the nuclear weapons cycle, you have to have those arrays going all the time. This is a technology that is well known that is well advanced and we are led to believe much of that technology comes from the AQ Khan network out of Islamabad, perhaps before that the Peoples Liberation Army in Shanghai but for the moment what is important is that the journalists were not shown the part of the facility that you identified three years ago. They were shown a part of the facility that is new built, that is underground and that is empty and the reason that they showed them that is because they could not learn anything Alireza. It was a phony demonstration of transparency.

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: Exactly John, even that place that they took the journalist I had already exposed it in August of 2002 so there is nothing new out of the visits by the journalist.

JOHN BATCHELOR: There was nothing there. We couldn’t have even say… gotten an agent in posing as a journalist with a Geiger counter or some way to sense the radiation given off by the centrifuge machines that could point us to Islamabad or point us to South Africa or point us to China. We couldn’t get anything because they didn’t trust their own facilities enough to take the journalists where the centrifuges are. They took them to an empty room.

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: Exactly I think the important thing is that what Iran wanted to do is by showing them the facility they were basically saying this message to the outside world, that look we have spent a lot of money here, this place is advanced and they interviewed some of the experts in Natanz who all said that we are frustrated because the operation of enrichment has been frozen here. We’re frustrated at the talks with the EU and we are ready to resume enrichment. So the message they were sending to the outside world particularly to the Europeans was that you know we are not going to abandon our uranium enrichment program and we are moving forward with our program. And I think this is the key thing that needs to be understood and needs to be confronted. The other thing is that if Iran really wanted to be transparent as they claimed they could have taken these journalists to a number of sites that have been off limits both to the IAEA and to journalists such as the site in Parchin where there has been considerable interest and just last week I talk about it, there is an underground, tunnel like facility where Iran is doing laser enrichment. There was another facility in Lavizan near Tehran that the National Council Resistance of Iran in November of last year revealed this site, that site has been off limits to the IAEA and the journalists and there are a number of other unanswered questions about their nuclear program that Iran has not addressed so if they’re really interested in being transparent they should address those issues they should cooperate with the IAEA response to their inquiries and take them to where they want to go instead of taking journalists to already exposed places.

JOHN BATCHELOR: A detail here, and I’m speaking with Alireza Jafarzadeh who speaks very carefully with the NCRI, which develops this information, this secret information, out of Iran at the risk of lives. Lives that have been lost, there is a long story to tell someday when Iran is free we’ll be free to tell this story, but again I want to go over this, the journalists during the run-up to the war in Iraq we learned that the Ministry of Information in Iraq would reward certain media organizations, no reason to use names Alireza, with access if they did not ask tough questions, if they put out the party line. Do you have any reason to believe these journalists today are being used in the same fashion; they would be given access because they would not ask hard questions, or not poke around.

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: That’s true, and I was just looking at the wires, coming on the internet. Every report I’ve seen coming out of Iran about Natanz has basically some pictures of some buildings and just reports quoting Khatami and one quote is very interesting, John, I want your listeners to know this, Khatami says, the regime’s president, and I quote, he says “If we were looking to make atomic weapons, we could have completed these facilities in hiding.” John, this is exactly what Iran did.

JOHN BATCHELOR: He’s telling the journalist exactly what they did and no journalist challenged him.

ALIREZA JAFARZADEH: In this facility that they took the journalist was a hidden facility, a top-secret facility until August of 2002 that it was exposed by the National Council of Resistance.

JOHN BATCHELOR: And that’s the quote that the president of Iran gave these journalists today and none of those journalists challenged him. When he made what is obviously an absurd remark. It was secret until the work of the NCRI. It remains secret because where the journalists were today, is an empty building, a empty building by the way that was exposed by the NCRI three years ago. Alireza Jafarzadeh, the organization NCRI, the facility, Natanz. You can look at www.JohnBatchelorShow.com and see the photograph, right in the middle. That’s where they were today. It’s an empty building off to the left as you look at the Satellite image. That’s where the centrifuge arrays are. That’s where the journalists should have been asked, should have demanded to be taken. This is John Batchelor, www.JohnBatchelorshow.com.