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Iran Covertly Developing Nuclear Warheads to Be Placed on Missiles, Dissident Group Reveals
Unidentified men carrying a model of Iran’s first-ever hypersonic missile, Fattah, past a mosque during a gathering to celebrate a failed Iranian attack on Israel, in Tehran, Iran, on April 15, 2024. Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect
Iran has covertly ramped up efforts to construct nuclear warheads for solid-fuel missiles at two sites, a coalition of Iranian opposition groups revealed on Friday.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which seeks to overthrow the country’s Islamist regime, unveiled a new report detailing how the nuclear warheads are intended for solid-fuel missiles with a 3,000-kilometer range and are being constructed at both the Shahrud and Semnan missile test sites in Iran. The initiatives are being spearheaded by the Organization for Advanced Defense Research (SPND), which is responsible for managing Iran’s nuclear weaponization efforts.
“Now, we have documented evidence showing that the missile sites in Shahrud and Semnan are fully coordinated with the regime’s nuclear weaponization body, SPND,” NCRI representative Soona Samsami said at a press conference discussing the group’s findings.
The report was sourced from the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), an Iranian dissident network.
According to the NCRI, the regime’s nuclear efforts are being furtively pursued under the guise of being parts of a new “space initiative.”
While Shahrud has traditionally been used to develop and launch new rockets and satellites, the facility has been collaborating with the SPND to advance Iran’s nuclear ambitions, NCRI claimed. To bolster these efforts, SPND has allegedly deployed new personnel at the Shahrud missile test facility and “camouflaged” its efforts as a “satellite program” when, in reality, they are developing a satellite communication system to track the path of nuclear warheads. Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Ali Jafarabadi has helped develop the Ghaem-100 missile — the main nuclear warhead missile carrier — at the Shahrud site, NCRI said on Friday.
Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), discusses new report about Iranian nuclear efforts on Jan. 31, 2025 in Washington, DC. Photo: Screenshot
Moreover, the regime is reportedly constructing liquid-fuel missiles and nuclear warheads at a facility outside of the Iranian city of Semnan. The SPND has allegedly expanded the mostly underground facility for the stated purpose of “space operations.” The Semnan site currently houses eight complexes, up from two in 2005. A series of underground tunnels connects the complexes to each other, according to NCRI. The SPND Geophysics team — led by key experts Mohammad Javad Zaker, Hamed Aber, and Farhad Moradiani Khosrowabad — uses the Semnan site to conduct underground research regarding “high explosive detonations,” which NCRI claimed is “a key part in the development of nuclear weapons.”
Iran has gone to extensive lengths to hide its alleged nuclear proliferation ambitions and evade accountability from the international community, NCRI said on Friday, noting that SPND attempted to conceal Iran’s activities by creating the “Directorate for Nuclear Treaties,” an office which supposedly helps the regime stay in “compliance” with mandates imposed on its nuclear program. The office engages in negotiations with the United States and Europe to supposedly give updates and receive feedback on the nuclear program.
Iran has claimed that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes rather than building weapons. However, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reported in December that Iran had greatly accelerated uranium enrichment to close to weapons grade at its Fordow site dug into a mountain. The UK, France, and Germany said in a statement that there is no “credible civilian justification” for Iran’s recent nuclear activity, arguing it “gives Iran the capability to rapidly produce sufficient fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons.”
NCRI argued, according to a confidential Iranian internal memo, that Tehran is “attempting to buy time through negotiating” with the United States and Europe to “maintain the current status quo to complete its nuclear weapons program.” According to the memo, the regime wants to prolong current negotiations for six months to circumvent United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 — a 2015 resolution which outlines an inspection process for Iranian nuclear sites and establishes an end date for UN sanctions against Tehran.
US President Donald Trump, who withdrew from a 2015 deal with Iran that placed temporary restrictions on the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions, has, along with several European countries, expressed interest in renegotiating a new nuclear agreement with the regime.
However, NCRI recommended that the international community reinstate previous UN sanctions against Iran that were lifted under the 2015 accord. Further, the group said that all Iranian nuclear sites should be closed and the IAEA should be given unfettered access to the facilities for inspection.
The post Iran Covertly Developing Nuclear Warheads to Be Placed on Missiles, Dissident Group Reveals first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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North London Synagogue, Nursery Targeted in Eighth Local Antisemitic Incident in Just Over a Week
Demonstrators against antisemitism in London on Sept. 8, 2025. Photo: Campaign Against Antisemitism
A synagogue and its nursery school in the Golders Green area of north London were targeted in an antisemitic attack on Thursday morning — the eighth such incident locally in just over a week amid a shocking surge of anti-Jewish hate crimes in the area.
The synagogue and Jewish nursery were smeared with excrement in an antisemitic outrage echoing a series of recent incidents targeting the local Jewish community.
“The desecration of another local synagogue and a children’s nursery with excrement is a vile, deliberate, and premeditated act of antisemitism,” Shomrim North West London, a Jewish organization that monitors antisemitism and also serves as a neighborhood watch group, said in a statement.
“This marks the eighth antisemitic incident locally in just over a week, to directly target the local Jewish community,” the statement read. “These repeated attacks have left our community anxious, hurt, and increasingly worried.”
Local law enforcement confirmed they are reviewing CCTV footage and collecting evidence to identify the suspect and bring them to justice.
This latest anti-Jewish hate crime came just days after tens of thousands of people marched through London in a demonstration against antisemitism, amid rising levels of antisemitic incidents across the United Kingdom since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
In just over a week, seven Jewish premises in Barnet, the borough in which Golders Green is located, have been targeted in separate antisemitic incidents.
According to the Metropolitan Police, an investigation has been launched into the targeted attacks, all of which involved the use of bodily fluids.
During the incidents, a substance was smeared on four synagogues and a private residence, while a liquid was thrown at a school and over a car in two other attacks.
As the investigation continues, local police said they believe the same suspect is likely responsible for all seven offenses, which are being treated as religiously motivated criminal damage.
No arrests have been made so far, but law enforcement said it is actively engaging with the local Jewish community to provide reassurance and support.
The Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit charity that advises Britain’s Jewish community on security matters, condemned the recent wave of attacks and called on authorities to take immediate action.
“The extreme defilement of several Jewish locations in and around Golders Green is utterly abhorrent and deeply distressing,” CST said in a statement.
“CST is working closely with police and communal partners to support victims and help identify and apprehend the perpetrator,” it continued.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) also denounced the attacks, calling for urgent measures to protect the Jewish community.
“These repeated incidents are leaving British Jews anxious and vulnerable in their own neighborhoods, not to mention disgusted,” CAA said in a statement.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, the United Kingdom has experienced a surge in antisemitic crimes and anti-Israel sentiment.
Last month, CST published a report showing there were 1,521 antisemitic incidents in the UK from January to June of this year. It marks the second-highest total of incidents ever recorded by CST in the first six months of any year, following the first half of 2024 in which 2,019 antisemitic incidents were recorded.
In total last year, CST recorded 3,528 antisemitic incidents for 2024, the country’s second worst year for antisemitism despite being an 18 percent drop from 2023’s record of 4,296.
In previous years, the numbers were significantly lower, with 1,662 incidents in 2022 and 2,261 hate crimes in 2021.
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Germany to Hold Off on Recognizing Palestinian State but Will Back UN Resolution for Two-State Solution
German national flag flutters on top of the Reichstag building, that seats the Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, March 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Germany will support a United Nations resolution for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but does not believe the time has come to recognize a Palestinian state, a government spokesman told Reuters on Thursday.
“Germany will support such a resolution which simply describes the status quo in international law,” the spokesman said, adding that Berlin “has always advocated a two-state solution and is asking for that all the time.”
“The chancellor just mentioned two days ago again that Germany does not see that the time has come for the recognition of the Palestinian state,” the spokesman added.
Britain, France, Canada, Australia, and Belgium have all said they will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly later this month, although London said it could hold back if Israel were to take steps to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and commit to a long-term peace process.
The United States strongly opposes any move by its European allies to recognize Palestinian independence.
Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the US has told other countries that recognition of a Palestinian state will cause more problems.
Those who see recognition as a largely symbolic gesture point to the negligible presence on the ground and limited influence in the conflict of countries such as China, India, Russia, and many Arab states that have recognized Palestinian independence for decades.
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UN Security Council, With US Support, Condemns Strikes on Qatar
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
The United Nations Security Council on Thursday condemned recent strikes on Qatar’s capital Doha, but did not mention Israel in the statement agreed to by all 15 members, including Israel‘s ally the United States.
Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with the attack on Tuesday, escalating its military action in what the United States described as a unilateral attack that does not advance US and Israeli interests.
The United States traditionally shields its ally Israel at the United Nations. US backing for the Security Council statement, which could only be approved by consensus, reflects President Donald Trump’s unhappiness with the attack ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Council members underscored the importance of de-escalation and expressed their solidarity with Qatar. They underlined their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar,” read the statement, drafted by Britain and France.
The Doha operation was especially sensitive because Qatar has been hosting and mediating negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire in the Gaza war.
“Council members underscored that releasing the hostages, including those killed by Hamas, and ending the war and suffering in Gaza must remain our top priority,” the Security Council statement read.
The Security Council will meet later on Thursday to discuss the Israeli attack at a meeting due to be attended by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.