You know the Bush administration is gearing up for war when they trot out the latest "exile" to sound the alarm. Now, it looks like that have found their own Iranian "Chalabi". He even offers up North Korea as part of the package.
An Iranian exile who opposes his country's Islamic government said Monday that Iran's military is building a series of secret tunnels to hide equipment for missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Alireza Jafarzadeh, who helped expose nuclear facilities in Iran in the past, told a news conference in September that tunnels were under construction mainly in an area called Parchin.
But on Monday he said the secret construction of missiles extends well beyond that location. He said that on orders of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei the Iranian defense ministry has taken over an area in eastern and southern regions of Tehran.
North Korean experts have cooperated with Iran in the design and building of the complex, producing blueprints, for instance, the dissident said.
A leading Iranian aerospace group, Hemmat Industries, is located in the area and is building three versions of Shahab and Ghadar missiles, Jafarzadeh said.
Should the U.S. be concerned? Silly question.
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I think the United States should be doubly worried about this because President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sped up its nuclear weapons program and the revolutionary guards are now dominating all three branches of power - executive, legal and judicial," Jafarzadeh said.
"It's a nightmare," he said.
Of course, one State Department official is a little sober about it.
However, McCormack said he did not know about Jafarzadeh's latest disclosures. And there's been "a very mixed record in terms of some of these groups in talking about so-called revelations about Iran's nuclear programs."
Look for him to be transferred to Mongolia to iron out some trade agreement the president may have made while enjoying the fermented milk.
Mark your calendar. I expect the case for war in Iran to start being made in, say September, 2006 as people remember 9/11 and begin to think about the upcoming elections. The game of Far East/Central Asia/Middle East Whack-A-Mole is about to begin.