Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards are using front groups to beat UN sanctions and acquire weapons and material for Tehran’s nuclear programme, an exiled opponent of the Iranian government said on Wednesday. Alireza Jafarzadeh, who accurately disclosed important details about Iran’s nuclear programme in 2002, called for tighter UN curbs and swift US action to rein in the elite corps. “The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been, consistently over the past few months, violating the United Nations resolutions 1737 and 1747, using different ways to evade the sanctions and import goods and material,” Jafarzadeh said at a news conference in Washington.
| Jafarzadeh provided names and details of 15 firms he said were operating as fronts for the Revolutionary Guards and its affiliates. |
‘US needs to take action’: Jafarzadeh said his information came from Iran-based members of the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran, which seeks to topple Iran’s government and is on the US list of extremist organizations. Now a Washington consultant, he served as congressional liaison and spokesperson in the United States for the exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran for 12 years until 2003.
A staunch critic of Tehran, he has been vilified by Iran and pro-government groups. The list identified Tose’eh Silo Co. and Sazeh Pardaz Co. of Iran as primary builders of Iran’s Natanz nuclear site. Jafarzadeh listed some prominent firms as front companies for the Revolutionary Guards and said other firms, including Iranian-owned companies in Dubai and Italy, played roles in Iran’s clandestine nuclear and weapons programmes. “A lot of these organizations need to be added, not only to the United Nations Security Council Resolutions ... but, specifically, the United States needs to take action,” he said.