Iran dismisses secret nuclear site report as ‘absurd’
Araghchi: Such claim by Israeli PM attempts to torpedo Iran-US talks
Iran’s UN mission in a statement on Friday rejected a media report about an alleged secret nuclear site in the country’s Semnan Province, calling the “absurd” report an attempt by the terrorist cult Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) to be recognized by the world.
The American news channel, Fox News, on Thursday claimed that it has exclusively obtained satellite imagery revealing what an Iranian opposition group says is a previously undisclosed Iranian nuclear weapons facility.
According to the claims by the MKO, intelligence gathered from sources inside the country points to a sprawling compound covering nearly 2,500 acres in Iran’s northern province of Semnan.
“The modus operandi of the terrorist cult known as the MKO demonstrates that it— in a desperate pursuit of recognition—furnishes fabricated reports, disguised as so-called intelligence findings, to Western intelligence services, including those of the United States,” Iran’s UN mission said in a statement on X.
“However, once such agencies come to discern the utter unreliability of the absurd reports churned out by the MKO terrorist cult, it then seeks out its next clientele among Western media outlets, aiming to exploit those platforms in order to ride the tide of media momentum.”
The Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also reacted to the Fox News report, saying that the reports are supplied by the MKO on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s order in a bid to sabotage ongoing nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington.
In a X post on Friday, Araghchi said Netanyahu is using “Saddam’s Iranian henchmen” under his policy of dictating what President Donald Trump must do with regard to the Islamic Republic in a desperate attempt to sabotage Iran’s talks with the US.
“Like clockwork, more Very Scary Satellite Images are being circulated as Iran-US indirect nuclear talks are set to resume,” he said.
“With his credibility in tatters and exposed as a saboteur, Netanyahu—under his ‘Determining What @realdonaldtrump Can & Cannot Do’ policy—is turning to both old and new sock puppets. This time, he is using Saddam’s Iranian henchmen. They may come cheap, but hiring a literal cult only conveys utter desperation.”
Iran and the US have already held three rounds of indirect talks, mediated by Oman, on Tehran’s nuclear program and the removal of US sanctions.
Back on April 23, Araghchi had warned against “clear” attempts by the Israeli regime and certain groups to spoil diplomacy amid indirect negotiations with the US over Tehran’s civilian nuclear program.
The fourth round of Tehran-Washington negotiations had initially been scheduled for May 3 in the Italian capital, but was postponed due to what Iran described as “technical and logistical” reasons.
Both sides have so far described their talks as generally productive, including the last round, which was billed as a “constructive” process.