Latest news with #AustrianIntelligence
Fox News
3 hours ago
- Business
- Fox News
Iran condemns Austria over report on advanced nuclear weapons program
Jerusalem – Iran angrily lashed out at Austria's government Friday after Fox News Digital reported on a document asserting that Tehran has developed an advanced nuclear weapons program that can launch long-range missiles. The explosive report from Austria's version of the FBI—the Directorate State Protection and Intelligence Service—provides a specialized window into the Iranian regime's illicit atomic weapons program and its espionage activities in the central European country. Fox News Digital was the first news organization to report on the Iran sections of the report on Wednesday, sparking a major diplomatic row between the Islamic Republic and Austria. "The Iranian nuclear weapons development program is well advanced, and Iran possesses a growing arsenal of ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads over long distances," the Austrian domestic intelligence agency report stated. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baqaei, denounced the Austrian intelligence agency "for spreading lies," and called on the Austrian government to "provide an official explanation regarding the irresponsible, provocative, and destructive act by one of its official institutions," according to the Ministry's website. Tehran-based Austrian diplomat Michaela Pacher was summoned to the Iranian foreign ministry, according to the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs. "[Pacher] took this opportunity to reiterate Austria's and the EU's position on the Iranian nuclear program," Austrian officials said in a statement. "This position was most recently expressed to the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency." Austria expressed support for an EU statement along with other countries in March. "Iran already accumulated more than six significant quantities of 60% enriched material [which the Agency defines as the approximate amount of nuclear material for which the possibility of manufacturing a nuclear explosive device cannot be excluded] and is currently producing one significant quantity of highly enriched uranium every month," noted the EU statement. The EU statement added that "All these actions carry very significant proliferation-related risks and raise grave concerns about Iran's intentions, since they have no credible civilian justification. In this context, the EU remains concerned by statements made by Iranian officials about Iran's capacity to assemble a nuclear weapon." The shocking Austrian intelligence findings contradict the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran has yet to begin a weapons program, but has "undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so." There have long been conflicting views (between U.S. intelligence agencies and European intelligence services) over Iran's illegal nuclear weapons program. The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment on the Austrian report. "President Trump is committed to Iran never obtaining a nuclear weapon or the capacity to build one," a White House official said. The Austrian report coincides with a new International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report. The AP reported on Saturday that Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, a confidential report by the UN nuclear watchdog said Saturday and called on Tehran to urgently change course and comply with the agency's probe. The report comes at a sensitive time as Tehran and Washington have been holding several rounds of talks in the past weeks over a possible nuclear deal that U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to reach. The report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency says that as of May 17, Iran has amassed 408.6 kilograms (900.8 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60%. That material is a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. A report in February put the stockpile at 274.8 kilograms (605.8 pounds). The IAEA report raised a stern warning, saying that Iran is now "the only non-nuclear-weapon state to produce such material" — something the agency said was of "serious concern." In February, Fox News Digital reported that the IAEA said Iran has sufficient enriched uranium to manufacture six nuclear weapons. "The Islamic Republic is the standard-bearer of deception and stonewalling. Today's damning IAEA reports confirm how Iran has been in violation of the NPT [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] for years, even when the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] was in effect. It shows the regime cannot be trusted with any diplomatic agreement," said Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI). The JCPOA is the formal name for the Iran nuclear deal that was concluded between the Obama administration and Iran. President Trump withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 because, his administration said at the time, the deal did not prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons. "I think Iran's regime's response to Austria's findings shows its sensitivity over these matters," Brodsky said. "It also wants to bully Austria. Austria should force the Iranian regime to decrease the size of its embassy in Vienna which it has long used as a hub for malign intelligence collection and operations throughout Europe." The clerical regime's foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, posted on his X account a statement in response to the Fox News Digital report. "Media is speculating about an imminent Iran-U.S. deal. Not sure if we are there yet," he wrote. "Iran is sincere about a diplomatic solution that will serve the interests of all sides. "But getting there requires an agreement that will fully terminate all sanctions and uphold Iran's nuclear rights—including enrichment. Path to a deal goes through the negotiating table and not the media." The U.S. talks to dismantle Iran's illicit atomic weapons program coincides with a nationwide truckers' strike in Iran. The widespread labor unrest could severely weaken the regime, according to Iran experts. The exiled crown prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, who lives in the U.S, called on U.S. labor unions to stand with Iranian truckers. "Truck drivers and workers across Iran are on strike and are putting their lives on the line to fight for their rights and for a better future for their families," Pahlavi, who lives in the U.S, wrote on X. "Now, they are being jailed and threatened for posting photos and videos of their strike. Only in a free Iran will all workers have the right to freely and openly organize. I invite you, labor unions and leaders, to stand with your fellow workers in Iran and show your solidarity."
Fox News
3 days ago
- General
- Fox News
Explosive new intelligence report reveals Iran's nuclear weapons program still active
FIRST ON FOX — A new intelligence report claims Iran is continuing with its active nuclear weapons program, which it says can be used to launch missiles over long distances. The startling intelligence gathering of Austrian officials contradicts the assessment of the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told a Senate Intelligence Committee in March that the American intelligence community "continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003." Austria's version of the FBI — the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution — wrote Monday in an intelligence report, "In order to assert and enforce its regional political power ambitions, the Islamic Republic of Iran is striving for comprehensive rearmament, with nuclear weapons to make the regime immune to attack and to expand and consolidate its dominance in the Middle East and beyond." The Austrian domestic intelligence agency report added, "The Iranian nuclear weapons development program is well advanced, and Iran possesses a growing arsenal of ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads over long distances." According to an intelligence document obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital, "Iran has developed sophisticated sanctions-evasion networks, which has benefited Russia." The Austrian intelligence findings could be an unwanted wrench in President Trump's negotiation process to resolve the atomic crisis with Iran's rulers because the data outlined in the report suggests the regime will not abandon its drive to secure a nuclear weapon. In response to the Austrian intelligence, a White House official told Fox News Digital, "President Trump is committed to Iran never obtaining a nuclear weapon or the capacity to build one." The danger of the Islamic Republic of Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism (and its illegal atomic weapons program) was cited 99 times in the 211-page report that covers pressing threats to Austria's democracy. "Vienna is home to one of the largest embassies of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Europe, which disguises intelligence officers with diplomatic," the Austrian intelligence report noted. "Iranian intelligence services are familiar with developing and implementing circumvention strategies for the procurement of military equipment, proliferation-sensitive technologies, and materials for weapons of mass destruction," the Austrian intelligence agency said. In 2021, a Belgium court convicted Asadollah Asadi, a former Iranian diplomat based in Vienna, for planning to blow up a 2018 opposition meeting of tens of thousands of Iranian dissidents held outside Paris. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who served as President Trump's personal lawyer at the time, attended the event in France. When asked about the differences in conclusions between the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Austrian intelligence report, David Albright, a physicist and founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital, "The ODNI report is stuck in the past, a remnant of the fallacious unclassified 2007 NIE [National Intelligence Estimate]. "The Austrian report in general is similar to German and British assessments. Both governments, by the way, made clear to (the) U.S. IC [intelligence community] in 2007 that they thought the U.S. assessment was wrong that the Iranian nuclear weapons program ended in 2003. "The German assessment is from BND [Germany's Federal Intelligence Service] station chief in D.C. at that time. The British info is from a senior British non-proliferation official I was having dinner with the day the 2007 NIE was made public. The German said the U.S. was misinterpreting data they all possessed." The Austrian intelligence findings that Tehran is working on an active atomic weapons program "seems clear enough," said Albright. In 2023, Fox News Digital revealed a fresh batch of European intelligence reports showed that Iran sought to bypass U.S. and EU sanctions to secure technology for its nuclear weapons program with a view toward testing an atomic bomb. European intelligence agencies have documented prior to 2015 and after the Iran nuclear deal( JCPOA) was agreed upon that Tehran continued efforts to illegally secure technology for its atomic, biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction programs. The Austrian intelligence report noted that Iran provides weapons to the U.S.-designated terrorist movements Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as to Syrian militias. A spokesperson for ODNI declined to comment. The U.S. State Department and U.S. National Security Council did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital press queries.
