Iran keeping secret military site – exiles

It alleged that Iran had engaged in the secret and illicit purchase of military-grade sensitive seismometers from Russia to carry out the work

PARIS, France (AFP) — An exiled Iran opposition group said on Friday it had uncovered a secret new military site run by a shadowy defense ministry research unit which they fear is being used for testing in the Iranian nuclear program.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said that work on the site in Sorkheh-Hessar, east of Tehran, is used by sections of the secretive Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), overseen by the defense ministry.

A section devoted to geophysics known as the Chamran Group is at the site and, according to the NCRI, “works on projects related to underground nuclear tests.”

Their focus has included tests “for preliminary explosions to build nuclear weapons and record results by seismometers.” Previous tests had taken place at a site south of Semnan, the group said.

It alleged that Iran had “engaged in the secret and illicit purchase of military-grade sensitive seismometers from Russia” to carry out the work.

The NCRI did not provide proof that such testing work was taking place at the new site, but argued that its existence showed again that Iran was breaching the terms of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal signed with world powers.

The United States walked out of the deal under President Donald Trump in 2018, but European signatories have sought to keep it alive, with analysts predicting a Joe Biden victory in the American elections could give it new life.