Stewart Stogel, NewsMax.com
Thursday, Feb 24, 2005

Story Continues Below

  The source was referring to the Iranian nuclear power station now nearing completion in the Persian Gulf port of Bushehr. When completed, the two light-water nuclear reactors will be among the largest in the world.

The project, originally started in the mid-1970's under the Shah, was designed to make nuclear power Iran's main energy source. That would allow Iran to export more oil to international markets.

When the Shah fell, the project was mothballed until the mid-1990's, when cash starved Moscow offered to complete the power station.

Almost ten years since it was restarted, the Bushehr project is now moving rapidly to completion.

Although Moscow and Tehran insist the light-water reactors at Bushehr are not designed for bomb making (a fact confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog), the Bush administration fears that any experience in handling nuclear materials could eventually find its way to military use.

U.S. intelligence sources believe that Iran has developed several sites for nuclear weapons development, some of them undergorund in "hardened" bunkers.

The Iranian source could not confirm Russian-delivered nuclear fuel has yet been moved into the reactors' cores.

Once such fuel is in place, it would only be a matter of weeks before the reactors could be activated. The reactors would then be tested for several months before they could come fully on-line.

The Iranians are now unofficially claiming that they expect Bushehr to become fully operational in "early 2006."

That would be more than 18 months behind the original schedule of activation in 2004.

Political dueling with Washington and the price Moscow wanted for the nuclear fuel both conspired to stall the project.

But with the cash now in Russian hands and the fuel in Iranian hands, all eyes turn to Washington.

"There are many factors in play," says the source. "The Europeans would like to continue negotiations, Washington would like to move faster. It is unclear where this is going," he added.

The White House would like to increase the pressure on Iran by bringing the nuclear issue to the U.N. Security Council, with a threat of crippling economic sanctions.

Military options are limited because of Bushehr's enormous size and heavily reinforced concrete reactor containment domes.

IAEA inspectors have said the plant's domes "could withstand a direct hit by a 747."

A such, Iranian sources tell NewsMax that they have "credible" evidence the Pentagon has been developing a commando operation to land U.S. troops inside the reactor site to disable it.

Should Washington ever decide on a commando strike it may get more than it bargained for.

The Iranian source also claimed that "retired" Russian special forces may be "assisting" in Bushehr's security, with some Chinese Navy sailors covering maritime exposure.

Yet, despite all the posturing by both sides, neither has felt compelled to pull a trigger.

The problem is, no one has found a credible smoking gun that indicates Tehran is secretly developing an atomic bomb.

While expressing concern over "circumstantial" evidence, IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei says he has found no "violations" to report to the Security Council.

That is buttressed by revelations that secret surveillance flights the Pentagon has conducted over Iran has yet to turn up any incriminating evidence.

Yet Israel's foreign minister, Sylvan Shalom, recently warned that "within 6 months" Iran would have completed most of its tests and will have the all the knowledge to produce an atomic bomb.

"They (the Israelis) are trying to pull Washington more deeply into the mess in the Persian Gulf," explained the Iranian source. "In the end, will it hurt Washington? Yes. Will it hurt Iran? Yes ... We will all lose," he lamented.

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