Iran bought 300 tonnes of uranium from Niger for its nuclear program

Lina Portman4 weeks ago

0 5 minutes read

The Islamic Republic of Iran has purchased 300 tonnes of refined uranium from Niger in a secret deal that is part of Tehran's efforts to gather the resources needed to build a nuclear device.

The independent news organization Iran International, based in London, published a report in early June on clandestine negotiations between Iran and the Nigerian junta government.

Banafsheh Zand, an Iranian-American journalist, wrote that the deal was first reported by the French news agency Africa Intelligence in late April. Iran has reached an agreement with Niger to purchase 300 tonnes of yellowcake in exchange for the delivery of drones and surface-to-air missiles to Niger, Iran International wrote.

Yellowcake is a term used to describe concentrated uranium, a yellow-looking powder used to make weapons-grade uranium for atomic weapons. Niger's military regime has denied the secret deal with Tehran.

According to Iran International, the French daily The world confirmed the secret agreement between Iran and Niger. The Arlit mine in Nigeria, where uranium is extracted, belongs to the French company Orano.

An Iranian missile is deployed during a rally marking the annual Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan in Tehran, Iran, April 29, 2022. (MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA (NEWS AGENCY) FROM WEST ASIA) VIA REUTERS)

Mohammad Eslami, director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told reporters after the publication of the The world article: “You must consider the source of the information. For the first time, we brought the news of the Islamic Republic's modest nuclear program to the ears of people around the world in a completely professional manner.”

The revelation of the Iran-Niger uranium deal coincides with former Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman's declaration that Iran seeks to provoke a nuclear Holocaust targeting the Jewish state alone.

Liberman told Army Radio last week that Iran is “preparing a Holocaust for us in the next two years.”

He continued: “We are in the middle of an Iranian extermination program,” said party leader Yisrael Beytenu. Liberman noted: “Israel will be attacked to destroy it on several fronts with tens of thousands of missiles at the same time. They are preparing a burnt offering for us in the next two years. »

Iran reprimanded by IAEA members

Member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reprimanded Iran on Wednesday for its lack of cooperation with the agency's inspectors. The British, French and German governments sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council on Friday highlighting Iran's violations of the 2015 nuclear deal. However, European countries and the United States did not trigger UN sanctions against Tehran for its continued violations of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

The Trump administration withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the formal name for the Iran nuclear deal, in 2018. Trump called it a “horrible deal” that does not definitively stop Iran's nuclear weapons program. The JCPOA expires on October 18, 2025.

According to a 2019 Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) report, “what is certain is that in December 2015, according to the Russian news agency Tass, Russia provided to Iran 200 tonnes of yellowcake”. MEMRI President Yigal Carmon and the organization's Iran expert Ayelet Savyon wrote at the time: “As the United States protests Iran's minor violation announced this week , of the 300 kg limit on its stockpile of low-enriched uranium set in the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal, the location of 8.5 tonnes of enriched uranium in Iran that Iran apparently shipped to its ally Russia that year remains completely unknown.

The Iranian regime is rapidly moving towards producing 90% weapons-grade uranium. The IAEA reported in May that Iran had enriched uranium by up to 60%.

Separately but related, pro-Iranian academic Seyed Hossein Mousavian, who served as Iran's spokesperson in its nuclear negotiations with the international community (2003-2005) and helped the Islamic Republic of Iran obtain the right to enrich uranium during negotiations with the Europeans, is criticized for his intervention with the Körber Foundation, based in Hamburg.

The Jerusalem Post reported last month that Iranian-Americans and German-Iranians were calling on Princeton University to fire Mousavian from his academic position over his alleged role in the assassinations of more than 20 Iranian dissidents during the 1990s in Europe . Mousavian remains a supporter of the US and German designated terrorist movements Hamas and Hezbollah. He approved the Iranian regime's fatwa to assassinate Anglo-American writer Salman Rushdie. Mousavian previously declined to respond to The Post's queries.

Iranian-American human rights activist and Islamic Republic expert Lawdan Bazargan, who oversees the Alliance Against Apologists of the Islamic Regime of Iran (AAIRIA) campaign, took to X on Saturday to criticize the Körber Foundation for having hosted Mousavian. She wrote: “Shame on @KoerberIP for promoting Hossein Mousavian, a known terrorist with blood on his hands due to his involvement in human rights violations in Iran. Highlighting such a character under the guise of diplomacy is a shame. Instead of distancing themselves from their dark Nazi past, @KoerberIP continues to promote human rights violators, dictators and radical fundamentalists.

Shame on @KoerberIP for promoting Hossein Mousavian, a known terrorist with blood on his hands due to his involvement in human rights abuses in Iran. Highlighting such a character under the guise of diplomacy is a shame. Instead of distancing themselves from their dark Nazi past,… https://t.co/3fnzxbEkZ0

– Lawdan Bazargan (@LawdanBazargan) June 8, 2024

Former Nazi Kurt A. Körber, who favored Hitler's destruction of European Jews and war aims, established his foundation after the war. The Körber Foundation works energetically to promote Mousavian in Germany with the Berlin-based company Table.Briefings. According to an article by Table.Briefings

Körber spokesperson Julian Claaßen told Iran International: “Dr. Hossein Mousavian was invited to substantive discussions at the Körber-Stiftung in Berlin and Hamburg. Since its founding, the Körber-Stiftung has been committed to dialogue, in accordance with the motto of our founder Kurt A. Körber: “Talk to each other, not about each other”. Our aim is to explore possibilities for political action and contribute to international understanding, particularly in times of acute crisis and conflict.

Claaßen said Körber would not comment on Mousavian's alleged anti-Semitism, his support for Hamas and Hezbollah, his support for the fatwa to assassinate Rushdie and his alleged role in the wave of murders of more than 20 Iranian dissidents. Claaßen said: “We do not comment on political statements made by our guests. »

Mousavian largely avoids criticizing the Iranian regime and refuses to reprimand the Islamic Republic for the massacre of Iranians during the “Women, Freedom for Life” movement protests in Iran. Iranian morality police tortured and murdered young Iranian-Kurdish Mahsa Amini in September 2022 for not wearing her hijab correctly. Amini's killing sparked nationwide protests – Women, Life, Liberty – against the existence of the Islamic Republic.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center also criticized Mousavian's anti-Semitism because Mousavian compared Israel to Nazi Germany on his X-feed last year after Hamas massacred 1,200 people, including the German-speaking woman. Israeli Shani Louk.