Iran is advancing its secret nuclear weapons program and resuming tests to produce detonators for nuclear warheads, according to a report by Iran International, an opposition news outlet.
The report quoted three sources (who remain anonymous for obvious reasons) who said Iran has also restructured the Organization of Defensive innovation and Research (SPND) and retained Mohammad Eslami as the head of the country’s Atomic Energy Organization.
Eslami, 67, served as vice president and head of the Atomic Energy Organization in the government of President Ebrahim Raisi, who died on May 19 in a helicopter crash near Iran’s border with Azerbaijan. Raisi’s successor, President Masoud Pezeshkian, was elected shortly after.
Despite past assertions that Iran is not engaged in nuclear weapons development, a July 2024 report by the US Director of National Intelligence now states that Iran has “undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so.”
This means US intelligence personnel can no longer claim Iran is not working on nuclear weapons, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies pointed out this week.
Those activities include the development of detonators for nuclear warheads and the necessary delivery systems.
“The newly obtained information shows the Islamic Republic has intensified its efforts to complete the nuclear weapons production cycle, including high-level uranium enrichment, the production of nuclear detonation devices, and the development of missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads,” Iran International warned.
Earlier this year, Iran launched its Sorayya satellite into orbit using a solid-fuel three-stage satellite carrier missile (Qaem-100) — a move condemned by Germany, Britain and France because the Qaem-100 uses long-range ballistic missile technology. It appears Iran is using the satellite development program as cover for development of a missile that would carry a nuclear warhead.
The development of a nuclear weapon involves a process involving three essential components: highly enriched uranium, the construction of a detonator, and the development of a delivery system capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
Iran has already accumulated enough uranium enriched to 60 percent purity that would allow its scientists to produce several nuclear bombs in a very short period of time — within weeks.
Weapons-grade uranium must be enriched to 90 percent purity, but the jump from 60 percent to 90 percent can be easily and swiftly accomplished.
According to Iran International, SPND is working on the production of nuclear detonators, another crucial component in the creation of a nuclear weapon.
Full Transcript of Netanyahu’s Iran’s Nuclear Exposé (video)
Documents show that Tehran has been working on neutron initiators for nuclear warheads since 2003, under the so-called “Project 110” that succeeded the prior “Project Amad” exposed by the Mossad in documents taken out of Iran in 2018.
The Abadeh site, where previous detonator tests were conducted and the “Metfaz” nuclear project had been carried out since 2011, was demolished immediately following the exposure of the program by the Mossad.
A photo from 2018 shows Tehran had been testing the detonators needed for nuclear warheads for at least two years prior.
For those who are wondering, by the way, atomic bombs are one type of nuclear bomb that only utilize nuclear fission. The other type of nuclear bombs are thermonuclear bombs, also known as hydrogen bombs, which use the process of nuclear fusion to some degree, according to a report in Popular Mechanics.
