U.S. to probe allegations that Iran, North Korea are linked in nuclear and missile research

Washington Times - May 29, 2015 - U.S. officials said they were seriously examining an Iranian dissident group’s claims on Thursday that Iran and North Korea are forging ballistic missile and nuclear research ties.

“We have seen these claims, and we take any such reports seriously,” said State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke. 

He added that U.S. officials have not yet been able to verify the claims made by members of the dissident National Council of Resistance of Iran ( NCRI ).

The dissident group, which has offices in Paris and Washington, claims to have evidence proving that a delegation of North Korean nuclear and missile experts visited a military site near Tehran in April amid the ongoing nuclear negotiations between Iran, the U.S. and other world powers.

The dissident group has a history of exposing major clandestine nuclear operations in Iran. It has long claimed credit for tipping off Western powers to the existence of the Islamic Republic’s uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and its heavy-water plutonium facility at Arakin 2002 — two facilities that Western officials have deemed to be violations of U.N. nuclear regulations.

Such allegations are at the center of nuclear talks between Iranian officials and representatives from the U.S., Britain, Russia, China, France and Germany. Iran and the so-called “P5+1” group are presently scrambling to meet a self-imposed June 30 deadline to reach a comprehensive deal that would restrict Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for a lifting of international sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

A core issue involves the question of how the U.S. and its allies can implement reliable monitoring and verification measures to ensure Iran is not clandestinely pursuing nuclear weapons.

Citing information from sources inside Iran, including within Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, the NCRIclaimed Thursday that a seven-person North Korean Defense Ministry team visited Iran during the last week of April.

The group said the visit was the third made by the North Koreans during 2015 and a nine-person delegation was due to return to Tehran in June.

“The delegates included nuclear experts, nuclear warhead experts and experts in various elements of ballistic missiles including guidance systems,” the NCRIsaid.

In Washington, Mr. Rathke declined to comment on whether U.S. officials intend to raise the NCRI’s allegations during nuclear talks with Iran.