ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2021 2

SPECIAL REPORT

A big reveal on Iran’s Abadeh nuclear site Duplicity, denial, deception and cover-up

ccording to the latest report by the International the Supreme National Security Council. Companies AAtomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on February 23, controlled by the IRGC s Khatam al-Anbia engineer- 2021, the nuclear watchdog has found anthropogenic ing arm executed the construction project. An IRGC uranium particles at two sites in Iran. The Iranian re- engineer with the last name Hashemi Tabar, a project gime had blocked access to these sites to IAEA in- manager for clandestine IRGC projects, managed the spectors for months. The regime has not yet answered construction. He has also led various other projects the Agency s questions relating to the possible pres- involving the construction of tunnels and other secret ence at these locations of nuclear material. The IAEA locations for the IRGC. Director, Rafael Grossi, yesterday in his introductory In order to build this site, the IRGC first took con- statement to the IAEA Board of Governors, expressed trol of a large area of land there. including the stone agency’s deep concerns on finding of undeclared nu- mines. Since then, local residents are not allowed to clear material in undeclared locations in Iran. enter the area. The northern part of this area is limited One of the two above mentioned sites is located in to the asphalt road that stretches from the village of the Abadeh region where a project called Marivan has Shurjestan to the northeast. This road passes through been underway. Today, I will reveal some information a relatively mountainous area and ends at a crossroad. about this site, which has been obtained from various The road to the south goes to the stone mines and the entities of the regime through the network of the Peo- nuclear site, and traffic to the south is prohibited and ple s Mojahedin Organization of Iran or Mujahedin-e Dr Saeed Borji, a top explo- is considered the IRGC s restricted area. The east- sives and high impact spe- ern part of this region is also under the control of the Khalq (MEK). cialist, who for years worked At a high level, this information reveals the fol- directly under the supervision IRGC. and is separated by a series of mountains, be- lowing: of Brig. Gen. Mohsen Fakhri- tween the main highway to Abadeh and Shahreza. 1. The subject site, which is located north of Aba- zadeh, the key figure in the Both the project and the site are related to the ac- deh city in Fars province, was built by companies regime s nuclear weapons tivities of the Center for Research and Expansion of controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps project, has been involved in Technologies on Explosions and Impact (METFAZ), (IRGC) in the mid-1990s under the supervision of the the Marivan project. Currently, which is a subsidiary of SPND (previously AMAD). Minister of Defense at the time. Borji is in another role, along To this end, IRGC-affiliated engineering companies 2. The site was part of a project managed by the with some of the most senior built large concrete locations at the site for experi- experts. He is still conducting ments related to high-impact explosions. Extensive main entity in charge of research and development research for the nuclear weap- of nuclear weapons, the Organization of Defensive ons program s explosives and nuclear weapons-related explosions in 2003 at the site Innovation and Research (Sazman-e Pazhouhesh- impact fields using a cover. were referred to as the Marivan project. haye Novin-e Defa i), known by its Persian acro- According to the February 23, 2021 IAEA report, nym SPND). In the 1990s, this entity was known as this site involved the possible use and storage of nu- AMAD. clear material where outdoor, conventional explosive 3. This site was specifically constructed for a project dubbed Mari- testing may have taken place in 2003, including in relation to testing of van, specifically for the use of one of SPND’s subdivisions, called shielding in preparation for the use of neutron detectors. METFAZ (Center for Research and Expansion of Technologies on According to internal SPND reports, one of the key METFAZ ex- Explosions and Impact). METFAZ is engaged in the research and con- perts is Saeed Borji, who for years worked directly with IRGC Brig. struction of nuclear high-explosive detonators. Gen. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the director of SPND (aka AMAD). Fakhri- 4. Dr. Saeed Borji, one of the regime s top explosives and high-im- zadeh was killed in the outskirts of Tehran on November 27, 2020. pact specialists who for years worked directly under the supervision of Among Borji s activities was working with the Ukrainian nuclear Brig. Gen. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the key figure in the regime’s nuclear scientists Vyacheslav V. Danilenko and Vladimir Padalko on high ex- weapons project, has been involved in the Marivan project. plosive testing and also on explosive chamber for nuclear weapons in 5. Currently, Borji is in another role, along with some of the most Parchin site (southeast Tehran). senior experts. He is still conducting research for the nuclear weapons According to SPND s internal reporting, Saeed Borji and two other program’s explosives and impact fields using a cover. SPND experts, Khodadad Meihami and Hossein Ghafouri, worked on 6. The process to sanitize the site is very similar to processes imple- a project related to METFAZ in 2011. The location of this specific pro- mented in Shian-Lavizan in 2004 as well as a part of the Parchin site in ject in SPND s internal reports is referred to as Ahmad-Abad. In light 2012, where there was a special explosive chamber. of the new evidence revealed about the regime s nuclear activities at So now, allow me to provide more details about the various dimen- this site, Ahmad-Abad is most likely the Abadeh site. An expert from sions of these activities. the IRGC-affiliated Imam Hossein University, named Mirtajeddini, Photos courtesy of Google Earth According to information obtained by the MEK from inside the Ira- was in charge of planning and designing this project. Abadeh site before being sanitized. Inset: The general area of the Abadeh site. nian regime, and publicly available information inside Iran, the con- While Saeed Borji has been one of the most prominent explosives struction of the subject complex in Abadeh for the Marivan project and impact experts and a senior member of the regime s nuclear weap- began in the mid-1990s under the supervision of Major General Ali ons program, in addition to being one of SPND s managers, according THE MARIVAN PROJECT: PART OF THE CLERICAL REGIME S NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM Shamkhani, then-Minister of Defense and currently the Secretary of Continued on Page 3

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