Philip Sherwell offers a glimpse into some recent building projects in Iran.
Iran builds a secret underground complex as nuclear tensions rise
Iran's leaders have built a secret underground emergency command centre in Teheran as they prepare for a confrontation with the West over their illicit nuclear programme, the Sunday Telegraph has been told.
The complex of rooms and offices beneath the Abbas Abad district in the north of the capital is designed to serve as a bolthole and headquarters for the country's rulers as military tensions mount.
The recently completed command centre is connected by tunnels to other government compounds near the Mossala prayer ground, one of the city's most important religious sites.
Offices of the state security forces, the energy department and the Organisation of Islamic Culture and Communications are all located in the same area.
The construction of the complex is part of the regime's plan to move more of its operations beneath ground. The Revolutionary Guard has overseen the development of subterranean chambers and tunnels - some more than half a mile long and an estimated 35ft high and wide - at sites across the country for research and development work on nuclear and rocket programmes.
The opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) learnt about the complex from its contacts within the regime. The same network revealed in 2002 that Iran had been operating a secret nuclear programme for 18 years.
The underground strategy is partly designed to hide activities from satellite view and international inspections but also reflects a growing belief in Teheran that its showdown with the international community could end in air strikes by America or Israel. "Iran's leaders are clearly preparing for a confrontation by going underground," said Alireza Jafarzadeh, the NCRI official who made the 2002 announcement.
Since he took power in Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been looking for a fight. It seems as if every other the day the guy makes another outrageous statement in order to make headlines in the West.
It's not surprising that Iran would construct something akin to Hitler's Bunker to accommodate its leaders.
I guess Mahmoud Ahmadinejad feels very confident that his underground lair will protect him, even if faced with the military might of the U.S.
Do you really think that Iran is actually making all of these preparations for a military confrontation with the West just because they want to have a nuclear program for peaceful purposes?
I don't buy it.
Ahmadinejad's Iran has no interest in being a responsible member of the global community.
Iran is a thug nation with a thug president.
From Pakistan's Daily Times:
Iran on Saturday made a thinly veiled threat to use oil as a weapon if the UN Security Council imposed sanctions to force it to resolve questions about its nuclear programme.
"If (they) politicise our nuclear case, we will use any means. We are rich in energy resources. We have control over the biggest and the most sensitive energy route of the world," Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi was quoted as saying by the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only, but the United States claims that it has been working to build a bomb for more than a decade. Britain and France are also sceptical of the Iranians, and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, says it has serious questions about Iran’s programme.
If sanctions are decided by the Security Council, Pourmohammadi warned, the international community would be harmed more than Iran.
...German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for a diplomatic solution to the standoff over Iran’s nuclear ambitions and urged Tehran to cooperate.
"Iranian politicians and diplomats threaten consequences if the world community sticks to its demand that Tehran stop all activities that allow it to get an atom bomb," he said in a guest article for Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper released by the paper ahead of publication. "We must not allow ourselves to be dragged into sabre-rattling. This is the hour of diplomacy," he said.
Urging Iran to accept international community’s demands, Steinmeier said "The United Nations Security Council will send an unmistakable message to Tehran next week that the world community stands united against Iran’s dangerous nuclear ambitions."
"I call on the Iranian leadership to accept this message," he said. "My appeal to Tehran is this. Only cooperation with the world community will open the way to a good future."
It's Iran against the world.
When you've got an underground lair to run to and you're certifiably insane like Ahmadinejad, I suppose it doesn't matter.
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