Iran Official Says Security Of Nuclear Facilities In Focus
Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, has affirmed that Iran's nuclear program and facilities have faced "several attacks," in recent years.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, has affirmed that Iran's nuclear program and facilities have faced "several attacks," in recent years.
"This is an area where there are security concerns. It is an undeniable fact, we have been attacked several times. The enemies are trying to destroy the nuclear industry and are planning to take it from Iran," said Kamalvandi in an interview on Friday.
Making no reference to the nature and timing of the attacks, he added that Iran’s nuclear officials have taken into account “security issues” over the past two years.
One of the most significant attack on Iran’s nuclear program occurred in 2010 when the Stuxnet computer virus disrupted the control systems of the country’s most sensitive and tightly watched nuclear facility in Natanz. The Dutch daily Volkskrant reported in January that the malware, widely believed to be an American-Israeli creation, was delivered by a Dutch engineer working at the enrichment plant.
In 2020 and 2021, two internal explosions hit Iran's highly protected Natanz uranium enrichment facility, inflicting considerable damage. The attacks were attributed to Israel, although Iran's chief adversary never took responsibility. In November 2020, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, known as the father of Iran's nuclear program was assassinated in broad daylight near Tehran.
In another part of his interview, Kamalvandi hailed what he called the “technological achievements” of Iran’s nuclear program, saying they have had positive impacts on “people’s living standards as well as on the country’s political and economic issues.” In fact, Iran's economy has tremendously suffered because of sanctions imposed for its nuclear program. In more than a decade, the country's economic growth has averaged zero.
However, Kamalvandi claimed that the sanctions have turned into “a strong point for the country and the nuclear industry.”
Over the past six years, the rial, Iran’s national currency, has fallen 15-fold, fueling inflation and plunging millions of citizens into poverty. Eqtesad 24 news website reported in February that almost one in every three Iranians is currently living below the poverty line as a result of very high inflation in the past five years.
Reports received earlier in March by Iran International indicate a significant drop in people’s purchasing power and the elimination of many food items in their diets, including red meat, chicken, and fish. According to Iranians newspapers, canned tuna prices have jumped by 113% in the past 12 months and prices for red meat by 100%.
Kamalvani also announced Tehran’s plans to “develop the capacity of Iran’s nuclear industry” and construct new nuclear power plants in the country.
“To build a 1,000 megawatts nuclear plant requires an investment of about $5 billion. So when you are planning to add 20,000 megawatts of power to the grid, it requires a $100 billion investment,” said the spokesperson for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, further adding that Tehran cannot rely on domestic sources alone to further its nuclear projects.
Nevertheless, he did not specify which foreign funding sources the Iranian government would employ to achieve these ambitious goals. Most international investors are reluctant to do business in Iran due to sanctions and the country’s volatile political situation. What is clear is that Iran cannot afford to develop its nuclear energy sector on its own. In January, Vahid Shahri, an economics professor, warned that Iran’s economic needs total $500 billion is pushing the country towards “catastrophe.” In a desperate attempt to cover its expenses, the government has considerably increased taxes.
Citing growing relations between Tehran and Moscow, Kamalvani stated that Iran “has agreements with Russia” to build several nuclear power plants. “Bushehr plant has been delivered [by Russia] and two others are now under construction,” he went on to say.
In recent years, Tehran and Moscow have strengthened their political, military, communication, and cyber ties, prompting concerns among Western countries and their allies. Their cooperation has grown significantly, particularly since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Kamalvandi further hailed Iran’s efforts in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), saying despite “massive campaigns by opposing sides” in the IAEA, Tehran has been “generally successful” in its bid to lessen international pressures on the Islamic Republic and its nuclear program. “We are now in a situation where the IAEA does not play into our enemies’ hands and is not at their disposal the way they want,” he stressed.
Contrary to what the Iranian official alleges, the IAEA has been vocal about the irregularities and violations in Tehran’s nuclear program. During the recent Board of Governors’ meeting in Geneva earlier in the month, IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi highlighted concerns, including the deactivation of surveillance devices, barring of senior inspectors, and refusal to disclose new nuclear facilities by the Iranian regime.
“I’m very concerned about this new relationship between Russia, China and Iran. What we see is, Iran is relying on China and Russia is relying on Iran,” the head of the US military's Central Command (CENTCOM) told lawmakers.
“Iran is now increasingly working with Russia, Russia is working with China…there is this consortium that has formed in a way that we haven’t seen…,” Democratic leader of the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith said in seeming agreement with the General.
General Michael Kurilla specifically highlighted Tehran's sale of 90% of its oil, which is subject to US sanctions, to China.
“So in effect China is funding Iran’s subversive and malign behavior in the region,” General Kurilla said.
When queried about Tehran's ability to sell oil to China, the General explained that the country circumvents sanctions by employing an extensive network of ships known as a "ghost fleet" or "dark fleet" for ship-to-ship transfers.
Republican Rep. Mike Waltz also pointed to Iran's alliance with China, by using a map to illustrate Iran's undisturbed oil sales to China – while pointing out Iran-backed Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.
“All roads go back to Iran but really it’s Chinese money that is fuelling Iran, that is fuelling terrorism…and yet, all of our policy is focused on the symptoms of the disease,” Waltz said.
In this context, Waltz queried Celeste Wallander, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, about her support for a House-passed bill imposing secondary sanctions on China for accepting Iranian oil shipments at ports.
However, Wallander deferred the matter to the Treasury Department.
Both Iran and China have not publicly disclosed exact figures of their recent oil transactions. Despite reports suggesting Iran sells oil at significant discounts, the precise revenue generated from its oil sales in recent years remains unclear.
General Kurilla also cautioned about the strengthening alliance between Tehran and Moscow, citing an increase in the provision of suicide drones to Russia.
“Iran went from 100s to now 1000s of one-way attack unmanned aerial systems – suicide drones – that they’re providing to Russia,” he said referring to Moscow’s continued war in Ukraine.
Notably, the General did not get into specifics about what Moscow is providing Tehran.
“What I can talk about in a classified setting, is what Russia can provide in return back to Iran which is concerning,” he said.
Deterring Tehran’s ‘Malign’ Behavior
Warning that the Middle East is at its “most volatile” in the past 50 years, General Kurilla pointed to Iran as the region’s “single biggest malign actor”.
Over the past 6 months, he said, every proxy in the Iranian threat network operationalized. In Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, The West Bank and Yemen.
“The ramifications of this partnership have global implications,” the top US general warned.
While he admitted that there had been a period of calm in Iraq and Syria, after the US carried out dozens of air strikes on Iranian proxies – he admitted that “all deterrence is temporal”
“I do believe there has to be cost imposition on Iran for them to be able to cease their malign behavior,” he told lawmakers.
The top General made similar comments in in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month.
Amid ample criticism from fellow lawmakers regarding the Biden administration's handling of Iran, Democratic Rep. Smith argued that reestablishing a peace agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, alongside a bolstered partnership involving the US, would contribute to stabilizing the region.
In response, Wallander emphasized that the initial step toward this goal is to find a long-term solution to the plight facing the Palestinian people and to revive discussions for a two-state solution.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has launched numerous terrorist attacks since the 1979 Islamic revolution within the territory of Germany, including the infamous 1992 Mykonos attack.
There has been a spike of IRGC surveillance and terrorist operations over the last decade in Germany.
Germany’s dovish responses to Iran-backed terrorist and surveillance activities has been a great source of anger among German-Iranians and opponents of the clerical regime.
Dr. Kazem Mousavi, a human rights, environmental, and anti-nuclear activist in exile in Germany, emphasized to Iran International, "This terrorist attack was planned and executed from Tehran by the Revolutionary Guard. A robust response to the mullahs' antisemitic state terrorism would be to immediately classify the IRGC as a terrorist organization on both the German and EU terror lists. Additionally, the closure of the Mullah terrorist embassy in Berlin is imperative."
Regarding German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock's response, Mousavi, the spokesman for the Green Party of Iran in Germany (in exile), described it as "half-measures" for only summoning the Iranian ambassador. The German Foreign Ministry has announced intentions to take "additional steps."
German media and legal experts have noted that Baerbock has stymied a terror designation of the IRGC by invoking the bogus argument that there are no legal cases implicating the IRGC in terrorism. Baerbock is a Green party politician. The German Green party has favored dialogue with Iran’s regime, according to veteran observers of German-Iran relations.
The German Christian Democratic Union MP, Norbert Röttgen posted on X on Thursday that “The reasons for the judgment of the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court are available. This clearly states that the planning of the Bochum attack goes back to ‘Iranian state authorities.’ The IRGC's terror listing must come now. There are enough starting points.”
In 2019, the United States classified the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization. The IRGC controls more than 50% of Iran’s economy, according to some estimates, and Germany remains Iran’s largest European trading partner. Mid-size engineering companies conduct robust business deals with Iran’s regime.
Germany’s foreign policy has largely been viewed as hardcore appeasement of Khamenei’s regime. A telling example was after a German court convicted a Pakistani man in 2017, who was paid by the IRGC to engage in an assassination plot targeting pro-Israel advocates. The then-foreign minister, Sigmar Gabriel, secretly summoned Iran’s ambassador for a warning. The Quds Force—a part of the IRGC—paid Pakistani Syed Mustaf at least 2,052 euros from July 2015 to 2016 to spy on Jewish and Israel institutions and carry out the assassination plot.
Germany’s annual intelligence reports are routinely filled with passages about Iranian agents conducting spy operations against dissidents in the Federal Republic. The hubs of Iran’s espionage network are its embassy and the Khamenei-controlled Islamic Center of Hamburg.
The US-based Iran expert, Alireza Nader, told Iran International that “The German government must take the regime’s presence on German soil seriously by expelling all regime agents and closing down regime centers of influence. The Islamic Republic has been allowed to use Germany as its European center of influence and operations for too long.”
Jason Brodsky, the policy director for the US-based United Against Nuclear Iran, conveyed to Iran International that “Germany should be making a concerted push in the EU now to build consensus to sanction the IRGC as a terrorist organization. It should also be downgrading diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic, namely withdrawing its ambassador and declaring a number of Iranian diplomats persona non-grata. It should also be banning Iranian banks from operating in Germany.”
According to a March 15 study by Gabriel Noronha , who served from 2019 to 2021 as a Special Advisor for the Iran Action Group at the US Department of State, Germany allows numerous “terror-tied banks” from Iran to operate.
The Tehran-born Ben Sabti, an expert on Iranian Jews from the Israeli National Security and Strategy Institute, does not believe Germany will do anything serious in response to the Iranian regime's planned terrorism attack on the Bochum synagogue. “They are afraid to do anything against Iran, Sabti told Iran International about the German government, adding that Germany “should define the IRGC as a terrorist group.”