CIA run troll factory in Albania busted for influencing media with fake Twitter trends, personal attacks and even terror threats.
CIA troll farm is in a former Soviet military base.
From Albania, the MEK has joined with the Albanian mafia, running weapons and drugs into Europe.
Behind this all, as the CIA’s primary contractor, is Google Jigsaw, Google Idea Groups, Twitter and Facebook, and Israel’s huge lobby inside the fake news media.
By Gordon Duff, Senior Editor, Veteran Today
Dear editor of Daily Caller,
With regards, we are a group of members and officials and former commanders of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) from various sectors, including military, propaganda, foreign affairs and publications, we are residents of different European countries now.
Recently, an article was published in your site titled “TRUMP’S MAIDEN SPEECH TO THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL — A MODEST PROPOSAL”.
Since we are fully acquainted with the literature and culture of the organization, we assure you that this article was either written by them or just has been dictated to the author by MEK operatives base in the US and it is completely illusions and fake news for attracting attention and rating to this organization.
Today, MEK has become a cult, among the Iranian public, there is a negative view towards the MEK not only because of its policy, but more so because of its role in the post-revolution political assassinations and the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and ultimately not only isolated by both Iranians inside and outside Iran and the Iranian movements and opposition figures but also according to many analysts and politicians, even the US Department of State Spokeswoman recently declared and acknowledge that MEK lacks any position among the Iranians and have no support in Iran what so ever.
we were members of this cult between ten to forty-five years with various responsibilities in different European countries, the United States and Iraq are well aware of the lies and deception and fake news which is the MEK routine practices for many years.
Among Mojahedin tricks and deceptions in Albania and other countries, are the scenarios of “lack of security and protections for their members” and their lives are at risk, so they could attract local support. (MEK known as Rajavi cult among Iranian).
We saw several examples of this type of trick in Iraq, including the time of Saddam Hussein regime, including imports mortars with the Islamic Republic of Iran’s logo from the Iraqi Kurdistan and firing them to our own base Camp Ashraf (the main headquarters of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization in Iraq), aimed at gaining more privileges from the Iraqi government by exploiting a few true attacks of the Iranian regime.
The claim that the Iranian regime’s intention to launch a terrorist attack on the headquarters of the MEK in Tirana, the capital of Albania, during the celebration of Nowruz, which appeared in this article published in your site, is completely false and fabricated, because there have not been any media reports what so ever, including the Albanian media, and there is no report on this issue by the Albanian government, and even the MEK itself has not published absolutely no news in any of its many fake site and media.
If such a threat were true, at first sight the Mujahideen should have issued a statement at the time, that is, seven months ago, but no such claim exists.
Other claims, including the intention to blow up the cult gathering in France and the intention to spy on MEK members in the United States, are completely false and funded by the MEK propaganda machine to attract attention and obtain privileges from the authorities of the respective countries and is an effort to keep the remaining members intact which in recent months and days many of them escaped from MEK camp in Tirana. These tricks and scenarios illustrate the isolation of the MEK and are out of desperation to be display and promotion in the media.
We emphasize that the Iranian regime feels no threat or any danger from this organization, which today is more and more in a state of collapse, but in the other hand, the presence of the MEK leaders and elements that have in the past assassinated many Iranian and US personals both before and after 1979 revolution, are and will be a great danger and a threat to the security of the European and United Stated, because the leader of this cult, Masoud Rajavi repeatedly threatened to kill and murder the defectors on the streets of Europe and the United States.
A group of former members and officials of the People’s Mojahedin Organization Iran (MEK) residing in various European countries.
October 3/2018
Peyvane Rahaee, Paris
Iran has dismissed France’s allegations about the involvement of an Iranian diplomat in an alleged bomb attack on a meeting of the notorious anti-Iran terrorist group, the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), near Paris, calling on French officials to pursue a realistic approach to Tehran.
“We once again reject such accusations and claims and express the Islamic Republic of Iran’s strong protest over the arrest of the Iranian diplomat and call for his immediate release,”Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Tuesday.
Earlier on the day, the French government claimed that Iran’s Intelligence Ministry was behind the bomb attack on the MKO meeting and announced that it was freezing assets belonging to two suspected Iranian intelligence officials as well as others belonging to the ministry.
In a rare joint statement, France’s interior, foreign and economy ministers said,”This extremely serious act envisaged on our territory could not go without a response. In taking this decision, France underlines its determination to fight against terrorism in all its forms, particularly on its own territory.”
In reaction to France’s allegations, Qassemi said such a scenario and plot aim to harm good and growing relations between Iran and Europe in line with the objectives of the US and the Israeli regime managed by a terrorist group residing in France.
He reiterated that the Islamic Republic’s principled policy is based on condemning any act of terror and said the existing documents clearly display the role of opponents and ill-wishers in hatching such ridiculous show.
“So, we call for French authorities’ realistic view toward the Islamic Republic of Iran and once again warn of the evil hands of ill-wishers who seek to ruin deep-rooted ties between Iran and France as well as other influential European countries,”the Iranian spokesperson pointed out.
Belgian authorities said that the Iranian diplomat had been arrested along on June 30 with a 38-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman, suspected of plotting the bomb attack on the MKO meeting in Paris attended by US President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and several former European and Arab ministers.
They added that Belgian police intercepted the two suspects in Belgium with 500 grams of the homemade explosive TATP and a detonation device found in their car.
The diplomat, 46-year-old Assadollah A, was arrested in Germany, suspected of having been in contact with the two arrested in Belgium.
Three other people were also arrested in France in connection with the case, two of whom were released.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on July 2 that the claims about the Iranian diplomat constitute a”sinister false flag ploy.”
Iran’s foreign minister says the claims about an Iranian diplomat arrested on suspicion of plotting a bomb attack in France are a sinister false flag ploy.
Taking to his official Twitter account, Zarif said the Islamic Republic”unequivocally condemns all violence and terror anywhere, and is ready to work with all concerned to uncover what is a sinister false flag ploy.”
In Albania last week, two Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) members asked permission from their commanders to leave their base, Camp Ashraf Three in Manza, to visit the graves of MEK buried on the outskirts of Tirana. After leaving the camp they travelled to the UNHCR in Tirana to ask for refuge. They are now living among over two hundred other dissociated members in Tirana.
This event tells us several disturbing things about the MEK in Albania.
First, that MEK members must ask permission for an activity as simple as visiting a graveyard. Second, that members are trying to escape the group. Conditions inside Camp Ashraf Three are difficult to independently ascertain. It is a closed camp. Not even government agencies such as security services and customs are allowed inside. The UNHCR cannot freely visit and inspect the premises. But according to conversations with dissociated members in Albania, it seems the residents are suffering the same conditions as they did in Iraq. There they were held in conditions of modern slavery and forced to undertake work for the group with no pay. Every aspect of their everyday lives was dictated by the leader Maryam Rajavi (who took over after the death of the cult leader Massoud Rajavi); who they spoke with, what they believed in and even what they ate and wore.
The event also alerts us to the fact that many MEK are dying in Albania. According to dissociated members speaking anonymously, there are three times as many deaths by natural causes in Albania as there were in Iraq. In Iraq the MEK excuse was “no doctors”. It would be interesting to discover what the MEK excuse is now.
One reason, of course, is that many of the MEK are elderly, many are sick. The average age of MEK members is above 60. At this age most people would be looking forward to a comfortable and relaxed retirement, to allow the younger generation to take over their work. Not the MEK. They have no younger generation after forced divorces and the removal of children left an ageing polity. Members must work until they die. Recruitment has proved extremely difficult because the group is hated by almost all Iranians. As a result, the MEK resorts to deceptive recruitment and coercive control for maintaining members.
One aspect of this deception is that rather than being ‘refugees’ as the MEK claim, the members have legal status in Albania. The government of Iraq did not allow them refugee status in Iraq because they are terrorists. They were brought to Albania by the UNHCR without travel documents; each migrant was given a piece of paper stating, ‘on humanitarian grounds’. Similarly, the government of Albania does not allow the MEK members or ex-members to be given either refugee status or residence or work permits. The secret agreement between Albania, the US and the MEK leader struck in 2013 included the provision for de-radicalisation once the members arrived in Tirana. This did not happen; the earmarked budget remains untouched in the American embassy, the MEK remain radicalised for terrorism.
The graveyard also raises another disturbing issue. There are sixteen public graves. It is reported that many others have since died but the MEK now buries them inside Camp Ashraf Three. It has already been ascertained that independent investigation cannot take place there, so it is not known how many graves there are. In Iraq there were hundreds.
The number of graves matters. When the US army detained the MEK in 2003, there were 3,800 members. (See RAND Corporation – The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq A Policy Conundrum, Summary xiii.) Over the next fifteen years, attrition of members through dissociation, conflict, deaths by natural causes, suicide and murder meant that when the UNHCR brought the last group of MEK to Albania in September 2016, the total number relocated was 2,901 individuals with 2,745 remaining at the end of that year. Since then well over two hundred have left; some departed Albania, around two hundred remain destitute in the country.
However, according to a report from US Senator Robert Torricelli, an official representative of the MEK, there are currently over four thousand MEK in Camp Ashraf Three. Where did the extra numbers come from? Are these MEK or are they the widows and orphans of killed Daesh members which investigative journalist Gjergji Thanasi discovered were destined to be the next controversial influx of undesirables dumped on Albania by the Americans. Have some already arrived?
Thanasi made the discovery while investigating import permit irregularities linked to the construction of MEK’s closed Camp Ashraf Three. This led to the further discovery that MEK is not registered for tax and does not conform to any Albanian law or customs or morals. And since the MEK members are not registered anywhere – they have no identification documents, have no work permits and pay no taxes – they could be anyone. The four thousand residents of Camp Ashraf Three – with its small-arms firing range, reinforced concrete armoury, three-meter wall and guard turrets – could be literally anyone.
Yet instead of investigating this disturbing situation, with some notable exceptions, Albania’s media have seen fit to uncritically publish the MEK’s defamatory statements aimed at silencing critics and diverting attention from their criticisms. When confidence tricksters do this, it is called ‘misdirection’; divert the attention of the target while they are robbed. When the MEK do it, it is called politics.
If it was the intention of some Albanian media outlets to politicise the MEK presence in the country, and by doing so bring the conflict between America, Israel and Saudi Arabia with Iran, to Tirana, then they have succeeded. However, it is surely not the role of an independent, objective media to act as a mouthpiece for any side. It is far more fitting for serious journalism to investigate the serious and evidenced allegations of human rights abuses, modern slavery, tax evasion, people trafficking, political corruption and facilitating terrorism which are levelled against the MEK, and report the facts to their country’s citizens.
Anne Khodabandeh (Singleton), Balkan Post
–
Anne Khodabandeh, is an expert in anti-terrorist activities and a long-standing activist in the field of deradicalization of extremists. She has written several articles and books on this subject, along with her husband, who is of Iranian origin.
A man called Siamak Naderi left the MEK in Tirana and quickly moved to Germany where, for the past few weeks, he had been given coverage in paid TV and other media outlets in which he established himself as an ex-member.
Even when he came out of the MEK some ex-members in Albania were suspicious – he had too much money and too much backing.
When examined more closely it is clear this has been done to muddy the waters. Iran Interlink has been contacted by over 30 people saying their name is on this list, but they have not been tortured by the MEK. Looking at the names it is clear that Naderi has listed those who talk against the MEK as torturers, while others, who don’t speak out, are listed as victims.
A lot of FB posts and articles have been published exposing the lie behind Naderi’s claim. One, for example, showed that he was in prison in Iran at the time he was accused of torturing others in Camp Ashraf. Everyone says Rajavi will get nowhere by doing this since nobody believes these lies anymore. A couple of people wrote about Naderi, saying they had seen him in the MEK prison working for the MEK himself.
His picture – apparently while he was not out of the MEK – lying on beach sunbathing was published. He was clearly granted a particular lifestyle by Rajavi in exchange for working for them.
When it comes to covering protests in other countries, it seems any vague picture of brown people protesting can stand in for those actually on the streets expressing their grievances.
Since the outbreak of protests across Iran three weeks ago, several major outlets have used pictures of demonstrations in the United States, France, or United Kingdom—organized by a fringe, cult-like group, Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK)—in place of images of the entirely unaffiliated protesters, 6,000 miles away, who are the topic of discussion.
These are all images of rallies by the MEK (sometimes known as the People’s Mujahedin, or its benign-sounding front-group name, National Council of Resistance) being presented as protesters in Iran. Several other outlets used their images, but noted they were simply “solidarity” marches in the US or Europe. While this is technically accurate, it’s still wildly misleading, given that it’s safe to assume most people won’t know that the organizers of these rallies are part of a US- and Israeli-aligned fringe group, and not allies of the workers and young people taking to the streets in Iran.
Casually throwing around MEK images to represent unrest in Iran is the worst combination of insulting and sloppy. It would be like a Chinese outlet, in 2012, using images of a Westboro Baptist Church protest in a story about Occupy Wall Street, because both opposed the US government. The exact ideology of those protesting in Iran isn’t 100 percent clear—they seem to represent a mix of groups and grievances—but MEK has virtually zero support in Iran itself, having been disowned by the Green Movement (the last major protest movement in Iran) in 2009, and is widely loathed for working with Israeli intelligence and fighting alongside the Iraqi army in Iran’s decade-long war against Saddam in the 1980s that killed a half-million Iranians. The MEK has carried out several bomb attacks in Iran, and was even officially listed by the US State Department as a foreign terrorist organization for 16 years, until it was removed by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2012, after a years-long lobbying effort by pro-regime change forces within the US.
The only major media faction that even pretends the MEK has any legitimacy within Iran is the Murdoch group, which routinely runs MEK’s blatant disinformation (Fox News, 1/1/18) and pro-regime change op-eds (Wall Street Journal, 1/8/18). Even consistent regime change partisans, such as Bloomberg’s Eli Lake (1/2/18), warn against promoting MEK:
People’s Mujahedin leader Maryam Rajavi, or supporters of the Pahlavi dynasty that fell in 1979, should not be treated as leaders or spokesmen for this organic uprising. They seek to impose an agenda on a movement they did not create. Don’t let them do it.
No intellectually honest person takes MEK seriously as a viable alternative to the current government in Iran. The idea that it is an actual “Iranian opposition” is a Western media fiction. But the group’s rallies outside Iranian embassies provide great visual fodder for indifferent or dishonest editors in need of high-quality “Iran protest” images—without the mess of actually paying Iranian photographers, or dissecting the on-the-ground political reality in Iran.
Adam Johnson,Fair.org
to download the video file click here
Anne Khodabandeh (Singleton) exposing Maryam Rajavi’s MEK activities in Albania
The strength of the Iranian Mojahedin organization in Albania is unconscionable. The organization in question – known as the MKO, the MEK, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the Rajavi cult – not only wants the violent overthrow of the government of Iran, not only has it managed to recruit politicians, MPs and young Albanians in its campaign against Iran, but their power has already been extended to the media in Albania.
On November 8 and 9, the British activist and former member of the Mojahedin-e Khalq organization, Anne Singleton – Khodabandeh, visited Albania. During her stay, she visited several institutions and gave several interviews to the Albanian media, showing her experience in the process of deradicalization of violent extremists. Anne Singleton was interviewed by several television outlets including Ora News and TemA TV. She, along with some former Mojahedin who have separated from the jihadist organization and have been deradicalized, provided interviews showing their experience and suffering in the Iranian jihadist organization and the reasons why they decided to abandon jihad.
The TemA TV and Ora News reportage was widely viewed so that the Mojahedin organization in Tirana demanded a counter-response to her allegations. But the reportage to be broadcast by one of these television channels never appeared. The Mojahedin not only refused to answer questions from the journalist who went to interview them but visited the media’s editorial office and “convinced” the owner not to show the interview of the British activist.
While Ora News featured an interview with the British activist on 12 November 2017. However, today, two days after the interview of British activist Anne Singleton the broadcast has been deleted by Ora News from its channel on Youtube and from the news edition of the date 12 November 2017. The Iranian Mojahedin, this cultic and jihadist organization operating freely in Albania, seems to have extended its power not only to corrupt Albanian politicians but also to Albanian media. What is being written here is not conspiracy theory, but fact. Below are the hidden links of Ora News television where Anne Singleton talked about her experience with the Iranian jihadist organization:
The news edition of Ora News where interviews were conducted:
http://www.oranews.tv/emisionet/edicioni-i-lajmeve/arrestimi-i-gjyqtarit-te-henen-para-gjykates-sekseri-qe-mori-20-mije-euro
News Page where the news was deleted:
http://www.oranews.tv/article/ekskluzive-pr-ora-news-anne-Singleton-muxhahedinet-po-rekrutojne-te-rinjte-shqiptare#.WgipuWBtZ84.facebook
Link to Youtube where news is deleted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3Tu_JltAx8&feature=youtu.be
Here is the original interview in Ora News that was published by Gazeta Impakt:
Muxhahedinet iraniane kercenojne lirine e medias, censurojne televizionin Ora NewsGazeta Impakt, Tirana, Albania, November 14 2017
Dear Sir/Madam
I have been informed by colleagues in Tirana that you have published a defamatory post
http://www.gazetatema.net
against me (Massoud Khodabandeh) and my wife (Anne Khodabandeh nee Singleton). This is not entirely unexpected since the MEK always attack their critics rather than answering their criticisms. I am, however, surprised that you did not take the trouble to contact either me or Anne for any clarification of the libelous comments made in this piece. I guess the fight against fake news has not reached your outlet yet.
Interestingly, the libellous allegations in this post are based on ‘reports’ purported to come from the United States Ministry of Defense (Pentagon) and The Library of the US Congress. They do not. They are fake. Did you not think for a moment to check these sources – perhaps with the military attaché in the American Embassy in Tirana? For your information, reports in the Library of the US Congress are available to the public. No such report exists there.
In any case, a simple check on our background would show that we are British citizens living in the same house for sixteen years in the UK. The claim, therefore, that the American authorities have been after me from 2013 should have alerted any decent journalist. The idea that we are British citizens who have not been investigated and imprisoned as spies for a foreign country – one for which the UK has a large degree of enmity – which is the central allegation of your article, is bizarre at best and indeed stretches the imagination of any normal person.
My background is widely known. I left the MEK while they still enjoyed the brutal support of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. When I left I was a high-ranking member of the Central Committee, member of the political wing (NCRI) and was head of the security of the leadership of the organisation. Since 2003 and the fall of Saddam I have been working as a consultant with the department in the Government of Iraq responsible expulsion of the MEK from that country how to facilitate this event as safely and securely as possible. A mission, I am glad to say we succeeded in.
Anne was also a member of this organisation and underwent military training in the terrorist camp of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. She spent many years in the MEK’s so-called public relations department. We met and married after leaving the MEK. Anne currently works as a consultant under the UK government Prevent Duty helping to prevent young people from being recruited into violent extremism, terrorist entities and foreign struggles which will rob them of their futures and sometimes their lives. She has just visited your country on a mandate given to her by European Members of Parliament to report back on the situation of the Mojahedin Khalq Organisation (aka MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult, Saddam’s Private Army) in Albania.
However, again I remind you of basic journalistic principles. You failed to inform your readers that Farid Toutonchi – the author – is an active member of the Mojahedin Khalq terrorist organisation. We managed to have him expelled from Iraq along with the other members of the group. The Americans then dumped them on your country. No doubt his status in your country – like that of the other MEK – will become clear when he appears in court to answer for this libellous article.
You also failed to mention that the appearance of this ridiculous piece coincided with interviews with Albanian media by three ex-MEK members who finally managed to escape twenty-five years of slavery with this group.
You have also failed to inform your readers that there is no evidence whatsoever of any of the libellous allegations against myself and my wife in any official or reliable source (i.e., not the MEK’s own websites). Instead, you have mentioned our website Iran-Interlink.org (a site preceding the existence of your site by far) but did not mention that this organisation has and is helping the victims and the families of the victims of Mojahedin Khalq. Through Iran-Interlink, we are now helping enslaved MEK members gain their freedom. Is this considered espionage in Albania? The contact details for this site are also easily available.
Dear Sir/Madam,
The Mojahedin Khalq have been deported from Iraq to your country to be deradicalized. Your government had even been paid for this task. This did not happen. Instead we see well known American war-mongers are now reviving this terrorist organisation against Iran as they have done with many others against Turkey, Iraq and Syria.
Anne has visited Albania to warn of MEK activities there. Of particular concern is the recruitment of young Albanians to serve the group. With first-hand knowledge of this she is able to alert civil groups how this takes place and how to prevent this from happening.
With this in mind, the best way to determine what the MEK is actually doing in Albania is to arrange a live media debate between Anne and MEK leader Maryam Rajavi – or one of her followers – so that the truth can be brought into the public arena. Anne will explain her task to establish legal status for Rajavi’s followers in your country and warn against recruitment. Maryam Rajavi might then explain to the Albanian people why she is calling for war and terrorism from their country. The citizens of Albania are already deeply suspicious of the strange behaviour and secretive activities of this group. An explanation by Rajavi in the media would go a long way to clarify for them who the group is and what they are doing in the country. Although I suspect that all this would do is to further convince Albanian civil society that they do not want such a controversial, provocative and secretive group living alongside their families, their children and their youth.
With our help, over a thousand MEK members have escaped this group in the past decade. If there is still any doubt about the integrity of myself and my wife, I suggest you invite these formers to speak about their experiences.
I have briefed my lawyer on this issue and am sending a copy of this letter to the Albanian Embassy in London seeking clarification on the situation of Albanian justice regarding such matters.
Yours sincerely,
Massoud Khodabandeh
Gazeta Impakt,
“The Fox program [of May 8, 2005] on Iran is simply the latest example of how the U.S. media has traded political favoritism to the White House, and its fierce demonization of Iran, for objective news.”—Kaveh L. Afrasiabi [1]
After more than a decade of dire warnings by Washington’s neocon war hawks of the Iranian nuclear “threat,” most of the civilized world rejoiced when the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was signed by Iran and the P5+1 in 2015. Hopes for gradually thawing relations between the Islamic Republic and U.S. were short-lived, however, with the ascendancy to the White House of Donald Trump, who unceasingly railed against the so-called Iran nuclear deal during his campaign. Now once again, Iran is being accused by the U.S. media of covertly pursuing nuclear arms. [2]
In an exclusive article, Fox News has announced that the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a political front organization for the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MeK, MKO), has once again managed to obtain “intelligence” relating to a covert nuclear weapons program hidden skillfully from the peering eyes of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspectors. According to Fox News, the NCRI report, titled “Iran’s Nuclear Core: Uninspected Military Sites” and conveniently released days before the expected “decertification” of Iran by U.S. president Trump, claims agents of the MeK operating inside Iran have not only confirmed the existence of a covert nuclear weapons program in the Islamic Republic, but also have discovered an additional secret military base dedicated to building nuclear bombs.
While this may seem believable to poorly-informed Americans, the information bears a striking resemblance to the secret weapons facilities allegedly discovered by MeK agents inside Iran in 2002. In fact, the same person quoted in the Fox article, Alireza Jafarzadeh, wrote in 2005, “Based on information received from inside the country, the Iranian regime has started an extensive strategic plan in order to build tunnels and secret centers across the country, in order to hide its nuclear and missiles projects.” [3] Aside from being a Fox News commentator and “terrorism expert,” and he should be, given his background dating back to 1985 with the terrorist MeK cult, [4] Jafarzadeh is also president of Strategic Policy Consulting, which claims to “provide a wide range of consultancy on issues related to terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, Iranian internal and external affairs, as well as Iran’s role in Iraq.” [5]
Jafarzadeh gained notoriety in August 2002 when he held a press conference to present “evidence” of a nuclear weapons program in Iran. In his 2006 book titled “The Iran Threat,” which reads like a pulp-fiction spy thriller, he admitted that he has worked as a lobbyist for the MeK and even managed to convince 219 members of the U.S. House of Representatives to sign a statement in support of the NCRI. Jaferzadeh was particularly proud that George W. Bush gave the credit for discovering Iran’s “concealed nuclear program” to the NCRI, which Bush called “a dissident group.” [6]
The similarity of the current (2017) Fox News article and the 2005 press release is striking. For example, both speak of large underground tunnels: the present Fox News report speaks of “scores of large underground tunnels,” [7] while the 2005 press release reports on “large scale secret tunnels for weapons system [sic].” [8] Likewise, the same claims alleging that the military complex at Parchin, southeast of Tehran, houses a number of secret facilities supposedly used in the ongoing development and manufacture of nuclear weapons. In total, four locations are named: Natanz, Arak, Lavizan-Shian, and Parchin, which the NCRI claims “with high degrees of certainty” to be in some way involved with nuclear weapons research and development.
Jafarzadeh and Fox News have a long history of cooperation going back to 2003 when the self-proclaimed expert accused Iran of smuggling heavy weapons into Iraq “using trucks who [sic] were carrying vegetables and fruits, buses or utility vehicles, and they have been hidden in villages and agricultural fields to be used by them.” [9] More to the point, Jafarzadeh was already pushing regime change at that time, calling the Islamic Republic “the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism,” advising the U.S. “to step up pressure” on Tehran, and insisting Iranians by the thousands were demonstrating “for regime change” and an “end to theocracy in Iran.” [10]
In an interesting 2005 Fox News interview pitting Joe Cirincione, director for Non-Proliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, against Jafarzadeh, the latter claimed to have new evidence from unnamed sources proving Iran’s peaceful civilian nuclear activities were a cover for a covert nuclear weapons effort. Citing information that Iran was developing a neutron initiator using polonium-210 and beryllium-9, Jafarzadeh claimed “Iran is actually working to develop a nuclear trigger, which is a necessary part of building the bomb.” To his credit, Cirincione, referring to the NCRI, emphasized, “The last couple of exposures that they made haven’t really born out.” Furthermore, Cirincione estimated that Iran was at least five years away from making an atomic fission bomb and pointed out that “after two years of inspections we haven’t found anything actually weapons related work.” [11]
Far from being new technology, modulated polonium-beryllium initiation to trigger neutron chain reactions was researched in the 1940s in the early stages of the U.S. atomic bomb program. [12] Also worth mentioning is the fact that India’s first atomic bomb tested on May 18, 1974 used a polonium-beryllium initiator almost identical to the one used in “Gadget,” the first U.S. nuclear device to be yield-tested on July 16, 1945 near Alamogordo, New Mexico. Away from Washington’s watchful eye, Indian scientists took two years to master manufacturing methods and handling techniques for the large amounts of polonium required to produce this type of neutron initiator. [13]
For Iran to attempt to amass the polonium and beryllium needed for a trigger would create an immediately discernable warning sign of proliferation. To date, no such credible sign has been detected. Furthermore, polonium-210 must be produced on an ongoing basis since it has a half -life of only four years, rendering any polonium-beryllium initiator ineffective within that period of time less than that. Even the “experts” associated with the NCRI in 2005 placed the lifespan of an alleged Iranian-designed initiator at 6 months maximum. [14] The point here is that any activity of this sort in Iran would certainly have been detected by IAEA inspectors long ago.
Unfortunately, Jafarzadeh and his ilk seem to have found a receptive audience in Washington, for Trump himself derogatorily referred to Iran thirteen times in his recent address to the United Nations General Assembly. Among his more amusing assertions, Trump stated, “Rather than use its resources to improve Iranian lives, its oil profits go to fund Hezbollah and other terrorists that kill innocent Muslims and attack their peaceful Arab and Israeli neighbors.” Noting the Saudi war on Yemen and the Israeli entity’s ongoing usurpation of Palestinian lands should suffice to discredit Trump’s remarks in reference to “peaceful Arab and Israeli neighbors,” [15] but what of the allegations of Iran’s support for “terrorists?”
Simultaneously funding an ongoing nuclear weapons program, if Iran indeed had one, as well as “terrorists,” as Trump has accused, would absorb a lot of money, and Iran is not awash in cash. With delays in integrating Iranian banks into the global banking system, Iran’s non-oil sector growth has been less than one percent, [16] leaving the country dependent on petroleum revenues subject to the volatile crude oil market and its persistently stagnant prices in the marginally profitable $50/bbl range. Yet somehow Iran has managed to reduce the poverty rate among its citizens from 13.1 percent in 2009 to 8.1 percent in 2013. [17] Obviously, this achievement of improving Iranian lives could not have been accomplished by diverting oil profits to nuclear weapons programs or funding extremist groups, as the Saudis have done and continue to do by pouring billions into spreading Wahhabism. [18]
Fox News has been quick to note that Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the NCRI, welcomed Trump’s bellicose remarks, which were in line with the Iranian people’s alleged desire for regime change. While this image of Iranians writhing under theocratic tyranny has much credence among U.S. pundits, the reality on the ground in Iran is quite the opposite. Within Iran, there is much popular support for the country’s nuclear program, and Iranians view their expanding homegrown nuclear technology with great pride. [19] Furthermore, surrounded by U.S. military bases in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as U.S. military partnerships with Georgia and Azerbaijan, Iran rightly considers the U.S. to be its number one security threat. [20] Finally, it must be understood that with literally thousands of victims of its terror attacks inside Iran, the MeK has absolutely no credibility among the Iranian people as any sort of an opposition movement. [21]
Former political science professor at Tehran University, Kaveh L. Afrasiabi, warned, “A U.S. policy based on a caricature of Iran’s realities is obviously self-disserving.” [22] Nevertheless, the current caricature of a U.S. president residing in the White House seems determined to do just that based on recycled fake news about Iran supplied by Jafarzadeh and aired on Fox News.
Endnotes
[1] Kaveh L. Afrasiabi, Iran’s Nuclear Program: Debating Facts Versus Fiction (Charleston, SC: Booksurge LLC, 2006), 101.
[2] Hollie McKay, “Iran’s secret sites linked to nuclear weapons development revealed,” Fox News, October 10, 2017, accessed October 11, 2017, http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/10/10/irans-secret-sites-linked-to-nuclear-weapons-development-revealed.html.
[3] “Statement by Alireza Jafarzadeh,” Joint Press Conference of Nuclear Control Institute & Iran Policy Committee, National Press Club, September 16, 2005, accessed October 11, 2017, http://spcwashington.com/?p=277.
[4] Alireza Jafarzadeh, The Iran Threat: President Ahmadinejad and the Coming Nuclear Crisis (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007), xvii.
[5] Strategic Policy Consulting, Inc. website, accessed October 12, 2017, http://spcwashington.com/?page_id=225.
[6] Alireza Jafarzadeh, ibid., xi.
[7] Hollie McCay, ibid.
[8] Statement by Alireza Jafarzadeh, ibid.
[9] “Iran’s sponsor of terrorism in Iraq,” Fox News transcript on Strategic Policy Consulting, Inc. website, November 20, 2003, accessed October 12, 2017, http://www.spconsulting.us/fox-latest.pdf.
[10] “IAEA Resolution on Iran Atomic Program,” Fox News transcript on Strategic Policy Consulting, Inc. website, November 30, 2003, accessed October 12, 2017, http://www.spconsulting.us/fox11-30.pdf.
[11] “Is Iran Nuke Program More Advanced Than We Thought?” Fox News transcript on Strategic Policy Consulting, Inc. website, February 05, 2005, accessed October 12, 2017, http://spconsulting.us/FoxNewsLive5Feb05.htm.
[12] Richard R. Paternoster, “Nuclear Weapon Proliferation Indicators and Observables,” Los Alamos National Laboratory, December 1992, 14-15, accessed October 12, 2017, https://fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/lanl/la-12430-ms.pdf.
[13] “Smiling Buddha: 1974: India’s Nuclear Weapons Program,” Nuclear Weapons Archive, November 8, 2001, accessed October 12, 2017, http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/India/IndiaS.miling.html
[14] Mohammad Mohaddessin, “Project to Build Neutron Initiator, the Trigger to Fission Chain Reaction for Nuclear Bomb,” Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, February 3, 2005, accessed October 12, 2017, http://www.iranwatch.org/library/ncri-press-conference-irans-project-build-neutron-initiator-2-3-05.
[15] Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump to the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly,” The White House, September 19, 2017, accessed October 12, 2017, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/09/19/remarks-president-trump-72nd-session-united-nations-general-assembly.
[16] “Iran’s Economic Outlook- April 2017,” The World Bank, accessed October 12, 2017, http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/iran/publication/economic-outlook-april-2017.
[17] “Iran overview,” The World Bank, accessed October 12, 2017, http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/iran/overview.
[18] Editorial Board, “Fighting, While Funding, Extremists,” The New York Times, June 19, 2017, accessed October 12, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/opinion/saudi-arabia-qatar-isis-terrorism.html.
[19] Kaveh L. Afrasiabi, ibid., 3.
[20] Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Iran and the United States: An Insider’s View on the Failed Past and the Road to Peace (New York: Bloomsbury, 2014), 272.
[21] Seyed Hossein Mousavian, ibid., 77-82.
[22] Kaveh L. Afrasiabi, ibid., 9.
By Yuram Abdullah Weiler, American Herald Tribune
Yuram Abdullah Weiler is a former engineer educated in mathematics turned writer and political critic who has written over 130 articles on Islam, social justice, economics, and politics focusing on the Middle East and U.S. policies.
UN rights report reflects views of Iran’s enemies: Judiciary chief
Iranian Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani has dismissed a recent report by a UN rights rapporteur against the Islamic Republic, saying it reflects the views of the country’s enemies.
Addressing a meeting with high-ranking Iranian judiciary officials in Tehran on Monday, Amoli Larijani added that the report contained rehashed claims and allegations against the Islamic establishment and simply quoted anti-Islamic Republic sources and the anti-Iran terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO).
He added that the report supported those individuals who had been tried and convicted of espionage and also the MKO elements who had carried out various acts of terror against the Iranian people.
The top Iranian judiciary official strongly criticized the West’s double-standard approaches in dealing with the issue of human rights in Iran and said while different resolutions have been adopted against the Islamic Republic, Western countries have prevented the adoption of resolutions by world bodies against the Israeli regime or the “child-killing” Saudi regime.
“The US and Europe … support a spy, but keep silent about the mass killings in Yemen and the blockade of Gaza and heavy bombardments [of innocent people],” Amoli Larijani added.
Asma Jahangir, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, submitted her report to the world body on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Jahangir claimed that there had been little change in the human situation in Iran over the past year.
She also alleged the harassment of journalists in Iran had intensified, claiming that the progress on women’s rights was extremely slow.
Jahangir stated that she did not attempt to assess the impact of sanctions on human rights in Iran in her report, because she had not been allowed to visit the country.
Iran says it will welcome Jahangir if she wants to visit the country provided that human rights rapporteurs would also be appointed for the other 192 member countries of United Nations.
