Iran using desert sites to test nuclear weapons components in rush to bomb: resistance group

An Iranian resistance group said Tuesday that the Iranian regime is using clandestine desert sites to test nuclear weapons components in a "dash" to develop a bomb as President Trump expresses frustration with negotiations. 

The National Council of Resistance of Iran said in a press conference that the Islamic Regime is rushing to develop a nuclear weapon under a covert nuclear weapons project called the Kavir Plan with several secret sites in a largely desert province west of the Iranian capital of Tehran. 

The regime’s security zones in the Semnan Province have provided “an effective cover for the Kavir Plan and enabled the regime to covertly pursue nuclear-related projects, tests and associated activities” in the area outside Tehran, the group said in a report released on Tuesday. 

The National Council of Resistance of Iran is a political coalition of Iranian dissident and opposition groups that desire the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

NCRI alleges, citing resistance sources, that the Islamic Regime in Tehran resumed nuclear weapons development in 2009 under the Kavir. According to the group, the new plan replaced the regime’s earlier AMAD Project, which the International Atomic Energy Agency said was abandoned in 2003. 

“To facilitate the advancement of the Kavir Plan, in 2009, during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s presidency, the regime declared Semnan Province a military zone and established numerous military sites within it,” NCRI wrote in its report. 

“The declared goal of desert security has provided an effective cover for the Kavir Plan and enabled the regime to covertly pursue nuclear-related projects, tests, and associated activities in Semnan.”

The maps addressed at the briefing include labels for seven sites in the province that allegedly serve as various components of the Iranian nuclear program, including radar and anti-aircraft bases, a missile training center, and storage depots. 

You can read the report below: 

Since December, the NCRI has reported in four separate press conferences on Iran’s “dash” to obtain a nuclear weapon. NCRI previously said the Iranian regime increased its research efforts into detonators for nuclear weapons and is seeking to develop nuclear warheads for solid-fuel missiles that could reach up to 3,000km – enough to reach Israel, Just the News previously reported. 

Last year, the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence abandoned its longstanding assurance that "Iran is not currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons-development activities necessary to produce a testable nuclear device,” Just the News reported. 

The August 2024 intelligence update highlighted several of Iran’s efforts to advance its nuclear program. "Iran continues to increase the size of its uranium stockpile, increase its enrichment capacity, and develop, manufacture, and operate advanced centrifuges,” the update reads. 

The ODNI also warned that Iran has "expanded its nuclear program, reduced International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitoring, and undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so.”

Since his inauguration in January, President Donald Trump has restored his signature “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran to push the regime to sign a new nuclear deal that would require it to abandon its pursuit of a nuclear weapon and cease the enrichment of uranium – the key nuclear fuel for weapons. 

However, the president expressed frustration with Iran on Tuesday, saying that the regime has grown “more aggressive” in the ongoing nuclear talks. 

“Iran is acting much differently in negotiations than it did just days ago,” Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier. “Much more aggressive. It’s surprising to me. It’s disappointing, but we are set to meet again tomorrow – we’ll see.” 

Trump told reporters earlier this week that Iranian leaders continue to seek a deal that allows the country to continue enriching uranium, which is a red line for the president. 

“They’re just asking for things you can’t do. They don’t want to give up what they have to give up,” Trump told reporters gathered at the White House. “They seek enrichment. We can’t have enrichment. We want just the opposite, and so far they’re not there. I hate to say that, because the alternative is a very, very dire one.”