Ahmadinejad’s Chief of Staff comments on possibility of enriching Uranium to 100 percent

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August 8, 2010

At a lecture to young Education Ministry advisors held last Saturday, President Ahmadinejad’s office chief Esfandiar Rahim Masha’i spoke about a visit held by the president on February 7, 2010 at the Iranian laser technology achievements exhibition. According to Masha’i, during the visit the president discussed the possibility of enriching uranium to 100 percent, the level needed to produce a nuclear bomb. Masha’i noted that the president had said that sentence to put the West to a test and see how concerned they are (i.e., the West) about the possibility of Iran manufacturing a bomb. According to Masha’i, the president’s statement stirred no strong reaction on any Western media, indicating that the West was not really concerned about Iran manufacturing nuclear weapons. Masha’i further stated that laser activity may help enrich uranium for manufacturing a nuclear bomb, but is economically unfeasible. He also said that some personalities in Iran call for Iran’s nuclear activity to be carried out covertly, and that Ahmadinejad will reveal their names in the future (Mehr, July 31).

In their reports about Masha’i’s lecture, most news agencies, including the official news agency IRNA and the semi-government news agency Fars, left out his statement on what Ahmadinejad supposedly said during his visit to the laser technology achievements exhibition.

Media reports published in Iran after the president’s visit to the exhibition in February 2010 contained no confirmation of Masha’i’s statement on Ahmadinejad’s supposed mention of the possibility of enriching uranium to 100 percent. The president’s official website does not address that issue either. The report published on the website about the president’s speech to the exhibition goers only noted that the president had instructed the head of the Atomic Energy Organization to start enriching uranium to 20 percent, saying that Iran had no intention of using laser technology to enrich uranium, even though such a possibility existed (www.president.ir, February 7, 2010).

Farda, a website affiliated with Ahmadinejad’s political opponent, Mayor of Tehran Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, was the only one to comment on Masha’i’s statement this week. The website strongly criticized the president’s office chief, claiming he had exposed information contradicting the regime’s official stance on Iran’s nuclear activity. The website expressed confusion over the statement, mentioning that it was only three years ago that the president had referred to elements inside Iran transferring to the West secret information on the nuclear program and called on the Ministry of Intelligence to expose those elements. Farda advised Masha’i to limit his statements to issues that concern his responsibilities as the president’s office chief, and even questioned whether he was qualified enough for that position (Farda, August 1).

Masha’i is a controversial personality in Iran. After the last presidential election, the president was forced to reconsider his intention to appoint Masha’i as his deputy following a direct instruction from the Supreme Leader and due to strong resistance sparked by the appointment in the political system. The resistance was motivated, among other things, by Masha’i’s statement last year that Iran is a friend of all the nations in the world, including the nation of Israel.