By Nile Bowie
The international
community has eased its condemnation of Iran following recent negotiations
between Tehran and six other nations in Istanbul, Turkey. While the
participating parties agreed to further discussions on May 23, 2012 in Baghdad,
both Israel and the West have given no indication of easing the strict regime
of sanctions imposed on Tehran. Following claims of the Iranian leadership that
it pursues civil nuclear capabilities to generate electricity and fuel for
medical reactors (allowing Tehran to divert its primary oil reserves to export
markets) [1], Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued a religious
prohibition on nuclear weapons in Iran [2]. During recent discussions, Iranian
negotiator Saeed Jalili emphasized Iran’s right to a civil nuclear program, as
guaranteed under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [3]. Although
Tel Aviv possess between 75 to 400 nuclear warheads, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak insists
that all of Iran’s uranium enriched to 20% be moved to a
"trusted" neighboring country [4].
While both CIA chief David H. Petraeus and US National Intelligence
Director James R. Clapper Jr. concede that no credible evidence exists to
accuse Iran of constructing a nuclear weapon [5], the brazen criminality of
intelligence operations against Iran’s civil nuclear program remain deeply
troubling. ISSSource has recently confirmed that the individuals responsible for planting the Stuxnet
computer worm used to sabotage Iran’s nuclear facilities in Natanz were members of Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) [6], a US State
Department-listed terrorist organization (#29) [7]. MEK was founded in 1965 as a Marxist Islamic mass political movement aimed
at agitating the monarchy of the US-backed Iranian Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
The group initially sided with revolutionary clerics led by Ayatollah Khomeini
following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but eventually turned away from the
regime during a power struggle that resulted in the group waging urban guerilla
warfare against Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1981.
The organization was later given refuge by Saddam Hussein and mounted
attacks on Iran from within Iraqi territory, killing an estimated 17,000
Iranian nationals in the process [8]. MEK exists as the main component of the
Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a “coalition of
democratic Iranian organizations, groups and personalities,” calling itself a
"parliament-in-exile” seeking to “establish a democratic, secular and
coalition government” in Iran [9]. Although the group has been credited with
the assassination of high profile US military personnel [10] following the
Islamic Revolution on multiple occasions [11], The New Yorker reports that members of Mujahideen-e-Khalq were trained
in communications, cryptography, small-unit tactics and weaponry by the Joint
Special Operations Command (JSOC) at a base in Nevada starting in 2005 [12].
JSOC instructed MEK operatives on how to penetrate major Iranian communications
systems, allowing the group to intercept telephone calls and text messages
inside Iran for the purpose of sharing them with American intelligence.
Following the toppling of Saddam Hussein, the
Iraqi Army has twice attempted to enter Camp Ashraf, a “refugee camp”
where the militant wing of MEK (consisting of approximately 3,200 personnel)
resided under external security protection of the US military up until 2009
[13]. With the
full support of the US Embassy in Iraq and the State Department, UN special representative in Iraq Martin Kobler has organized efforts to relocate MEK insurgents
to a former US military base near the Baghdad airport, amusingly titled, “Camp Liberty” – to avoid violent clashes between the MEK and the Shiite-led Iraqi
government [14]. The group has long received material assistance from Israel,
who assisted the organization with broadcasting into Iran from their political
base in Paris, while the MEK and NCRI have reportedly provided the United
States with intelligence on Iran's nuclear program, which publicly revealed the
existence of the Natanz uranium-enrichment facility in 2002 [15].
While senior figures in the Council on Foreign Relations describe MEK as a "cult-like organization" with
"totalitarian tendencies,” [16] a cabal of elder statesmen such as former NATO
Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley K. Clark, former New York City Mayor
Rudy Giuliani, former 9/11 Commission Chairman Lee Hamilton were paid $20,000
to $30,000 per engagement to endorse the removal of the Mujahideen-e Khalq from
the US State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations [17]. NCRI
head Maryam Rajavi, now based in Paris and endorsed by statesmen from the
United States and European Union, is famously quoted saying, "Take the
Kurds under your tanks, and save your bullets for the Iranian Revolutionary
Guards," during Saddam Hussein’s massacre of Iraqi Kurds in 1991 [18]. Despite
the documented cases of atrocities committed by MEK forces, the Council of the
European Union removed the group from the EU list of terrorist organizations in
2009; NCRI spokesperson Shahin Gobadi offered, "All we want is democratic
elections in Iran," in a press statement to mark the event [19].
Although current and
former US officials agree Iran is years away from having a deliverable nuclear
warhead and has no secret uranium-enrichment site outside the purview of UN
nuclear inspections [20], recent revelations connecting MEK with the Stuxnet
computer virus that destroyed several hundred centrifuges in Iran’s Natanz nuclear
facility constitutes an act of deliberate and unparalleled sabotage. Stuxnet
remains the most sophisticated malware discovered thus far, the virus targets Siemens’
Simatic WinCC Step7 software, which controls
industrial systems such as nuclear power plants and electrical grids from a Microsoft
Windows-based PC. The virus exploits security gaps referred to as zero-day
vulnerabilities, to attack specific targets. Prior to its discovery, Stuxnet was previously undetected and remained
unidentified by anti-virus software, as the malware was designed to appear as
legitimate software to Microsoft Windows. Upon delivery of the Stuxnet payload,
the malware manipulated the operating speed of centrifuges spinning nuclear
fuel to create distortions that deliberately damaged the machines, while giving
the impression of normal activities to the monitoring operator and disabling
their emergency controls.
ISSSource has
cited current and former US intelligence officials, who confirm the Stuxnet
virus was planted at Natanz nuclear facility by a saboteur believed to be a
member of Mujahedeen-e-Khalq [21]. By delivering the malicious payload via USB
memory stick, the group was able to damage at least 1,000 centrifuges in the Natanz nuclear
facility [22]. MEK has also been accused of assassinating Iranian nuclear
scientists [23] and triggering
an explosion that destroyed an underground site near the town of Khorramabad in
western Iran that housed most of Tehran's Shehab-3 medium-range missiles [24].
NBC News reports that Israel provided financing, training and arms to members of
Mujahideen-e Khalq, who are responsible for killing five Iranian nuclear
scientists since 2007 using motorcycle-borne assailants often attaching small
magnetic bombs to the exterior of the victims’ cars [25]. The New York Times
reports that former US President George W. Bush authorized covert action
intended to sabotage Iran’s Natanz facility, after deflecting an Israeli
request to shower specialized bunker-busting bombs on the facility in 2009
[26].
Due to the intricate nature of Stuxnet coding, security experts confirm its
creation must the “work of a national government agency” [27]. Ralph Langner,
an independent computer security expert who dismantled Stuxnet credited Israel and the United States with writing the
malicious software designed to sabotage the Iranian nuclear program [28]. Considering
that Stuxnet targeted Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) used in industrial
plants to automate industrial operations, the malware designers required
detailed knowledge of the programming language written for PLC components to successively
subvert them [29]. It remains significant that the German electrical
engineering company Siemens cooperated with one of the United States in 2008 to
identify vulnerabilities in the computer controllers identified as key
equipment in Iran’s enrichment facilities [30]. Intelligence experts concede
that testing of the Stuxnet virus was conducted in the Dimona complex located
in Israel’s Negev desert, the site of Israel’s rarely acknowledged nuclear arms
program [31].
When asked about the Stuxnet worm in a press conference, current White House WMD
Coordinator Gary Samore boasted, “I’m glad to hear they are having troubles with their
centrifuge machines, and the U.S. and its allies are doing everything we can to
make it more complicated” [32]. While former chief of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) Hans Blix challenges the IAEA’s own reports on Iran’s
nuclear activities (accusing the agency of relying on unverified intelligence
from the US and Israel) [33], former director of US nuclear weapons production
programs, Clinton Bastin, has sent an open letter to President Obama regarding
the status of Iran’s capacity to produce nuclear weapons [34]. Bastin reiterates
in his letter to the President, “The ultimate product of Iran's gas centrifuge
facilities would be highly enriched uranium hexafluoride, a gas that cannot be
used to make a weapon. Converting the gas to metal, fabricating components and
assembling them with high explosives using dangerous and difficult technology
that has never been used in Iran would take many years after a diversion of
three tons of low enriched uranium gas from fully safeguarded inventories. The
resulting weapon, if intended for delivery by missile, would have a yield
equivalent to that of a kiloton of conventional high explosives” [35].
The theatrics of the US and Israel in their condemnation of Iran’s
nuclear power program have come at a heavy price for the Iranian people, who
have been subjected to sanctions, assassinations, condemnation and sabotage.
The United States has produced more than 70,000 nuclear weapons
between 1951 and 1998 [36], while Israel possess a nuclear weapons
stockpile ranging from 75 to 400 warheads [37]. The current legal international framework of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty guarantees the right to conduct peaceful nuclear
energy programs; the deliberate provocations of the United States and Israel
acting through intelligence groups such as Mossad and the CIA constitute the
most genuine contempt toward international law, security and the value of a
single human life. The mainstream media have worked to indoctrinate the
population of the English-speaking world with an exploited and romanticized
version of the Iranian theocracy’s ideological ambitions to wage “unprovoked
terror,” while figures such as Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi publically renounce nuclear weapons [38].
The Mujahedeen-e-Khalq,
or the People’s Mujahedin of Iran is an organization responsible for the deaths
of thousands of civilians since its inception. If the US and Israel launched a
war against Iran, aggressor nations would likely recognize the touted
“parliament-in-exile”, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, as the
nation’s legitimate government. The US State Department's own website (which features
Mujahedeen-e-Khalq as Foreign Terrorist Organization #29) indicates that “It is
unlawful for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of
the United States to knowingly provide ‘material support or resources’ to a
designated FTO” [39]. As the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq continually seek removal from
the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations [40], the group’s unpardonable
offenses must not be lost to the annuls of history. While NCRI leader Maryam Rajavi would
prefer to masquerade as a “pro-democracy” figure, the responsible parties of
the international community must rightfully condemn the actions taken by her
organization and its affiliates.
The Stuxnet virus was engineered with Iran’s nuclear program in mind, as
60% of global Stuxnet cases appear within Iran [41]. US intelligence sources
indicate that American and
Israeli officials are working to finalize a new Stuxnet worm, referred to as ‘Duqu’
[42]; Alexander Gostev, chief security expert at Russia’s Kaspersky Lab
examined drivers used in Stuxnet and Duqu and concluded a single team most
likely designed both worms, based on their interaction with the surrounding
malware code [43]. Duqu malware similarly exploits Microsoft
Windows systems using a zero-day vulnerability and is partially written in an
advanced and previously unknown programming language, comprised of a variety of
software components capable of executing information theft capabilities highly
related to Iran’s nuclear program. Duqu has the capacity to steal digital
certificates to help future viruses appear as secure software [44]. Duqu’s
replication methods inside target networks remain unknown, however due to its
modular structure, a special payload could theoretically be used in further
cyber-physical attacks [45]. As the world begins to wage warfare in currency
markets and programming code, the demand has never been greater for a new
international legal framework to rightfully penalize covert provocateurs for
manipulating economic structures and engaging in acts of sabotage.
Notes
[6] Stuxnet
Loaded by Iran Double Agents, ISSSource, April 11, 2012
[7] Foreign Terrorist
Organizations, Bureau of Counterterrorism, U.S. Department of State,
Janurary 27, 2012
[8] Moqtada Sadr
Reiterates Iraqis' Demand for Expulsion of MKO Terrorists, Fars News
Agency, September 19, 2011
[9] About the National Council of
Resistance of Iran, The National Council of
Resistance of Iran, 2010
[10] Massacre at Camp
Ashraf: Implications for U.S. Policy, Committee
on Foreign Affairs, July 7, 2011
[11] Iran
vows capture of officers’ killers, The Free
Lance-Star, May 22, 1975
[12]
Our
Men in Iran? The New Yorker, April 6, 2012
[13] Former
U.S. base opened to Iranian terrorist group, Foreign Policy, February 7,
2012
[14] Are
the MEK’s U.S. friends its worst enemies? Foreign Policy, March 8, 2012
[15] Iran nuclear
leaks 'linked to Israel', Asia Times, June 5, 2009
[16] Massacre at Camp
Ashraf: Implications for U.S. Policy, Committee
on Foreign Affairs, July 7, 2011
[17] Mujahideen-e
Khalq: Former U.S. Officials Make Millions Advocating For Terrorist
Organization, Huffington Post, August 8, 2011
[20] SPECIAL
REPORT-Intel shows Iran nuclear threat not imminent, Reuters, March 23,
2012
[21] Stuxnet
Loaded by Iran Double Agents, ISSSource, April 11, 2012
[22] Did
Stuxnet Take Out 1,000 Centrifuges at the Natanz Enrichment Plant?
Institute for Science and International Security, December 22, 2010
[23] Report:
U.S. Officials Tie Controversial Iranian Exile Group To Scientist
Assassinations, Center for American Progress Action Fund, February 9,
2012
[24] Triple
Blast at Secret Iranian Military Installation, Virtual Jerusalem, October
15, 2010
[25] Israel
teams with terror group to kill Iran's nuclear scientists, U.S. officials tell
NBC News, MSNBC, February 9, 2012
[26] U.S.
Rejected Aid for Israeli Raid on Iranian Nuclear Site, The New York Times,
Janurary 10, 2009
[27] Stuxnet
worm is the 'work of a national government agency', The Guardian, September
24, 2010
[28] US and Israel were behind
Stuxnet claims researcher, BBC, March 4, 2011
[29] Code clues point to Stuxnet
maker, BBC, November 19, 2010
[30] Israeli
Test on Worm Called Crucial in Iran Nuclear Delay, The New York Times,
Janurary 15, 2011
[31] Ibid
[32] Ibid
[33] Blix:
US, Israel source most of IAEA allegations, PressTV, March 25, 2012
[34] Iran
has a Nuclear Power, Not a Weapons Program, 21st Century & Technology,
December 2, 2011
[35] Top US Nuclear Expert Tells Obama:
There Is No Weapons Threat From Iran, LaRouche Pac, February 25, 2012
[36] 50 Facts
About U.S. Nuclear Weapons, Brookings Institute, August
1998
[37] Nuclear Weapons - Israel,
Federation of American Scientists, January 8, 2007
[38] Iran:
We do not want nuclear weapons, The Washington Post, April 13, 2012
[39] Foreign
Terrorist Organizations, Bureau of Counterterrorism, U.S. Department of
State, Janurary 27, 2012
[40] Iran exile group
MEK seeks US terror de-listing, BBC, September 25, 2011
[41] UPDATE
2-Cyber attack appears to target Iran-tech firms, Reuters, September 24,
2010
[42] Stuxnet, Duqu
Link Grows Stronger, ISSSource, January 3, 2012
[43] Ibid
[44] The
Day of the Golden Jackal – The Next Tale in the Stuxnet Files: Duqu Updated,
McAfee, October 18, 2011
[45] W32.Duqu
– The precursor to the next Stuxnet (Version 1.4), Symantec, November 23,
2011
Nile Bowie is an independent writer and photojournalist based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; he regularly contributes to Tony Cartalucci's Land Destroyer Report and Professor Michel Chossudovsky's Global Research Twitter: @NileBowie
