IRAN MAKING ANTHRAX AT SECRET PLANT (WND EXCLUSIVE)!!!

WND EXCLUSIVE

Iran making anthrax at secret plant

Weaponization efforts also include deadly encephalitis, 'yellow grain'

by Reza Kahlili 

Reza Kahlili served in CIA Directorate of Operations, as a spy in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, counterterrorism expert; currently serves on the Task

Russian scientists have helped Iran master four microbial agents for bombs, which the Islamic regime has used to arm 37 launch-ready missiles so far, sources have revealed.

The secret work is being done at a plant named Shahid Bahonar on a mountaintop by the city of Marzanabad off the mountainous Chalus road to the Iranian Caspian Sea.

The plant, under the supervision of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, is headed by Dr. Esmaeil Namazi, who oversees 28 Iranian and 12 Russian scientists, according to a source in the Revolutionary Guards intelligence division with access to the site.

There are several underground facilities at two levels with elevators reaching the lower level some 40 feet underground and where more than 100 personnel work on the microbial bomb project, the source said.

The plant has been expanded significantly in the last two years, and two high-power towers, one at the bottom of the mountain and one behind the plant, provide the needed electricity for the site. Homes have been built close by to accommodate personnel so they would not raise suspicion by commuting back and forth.

The scientists are working on 18 agents but so far they have developed four for weaponization, according to the source, who provided particulars on three of them:

• Bacillus anthracis (anthrax). This bacteria was developed by the United States during World War II and through espionage was obtained by the Soviet Union, which has long mastered the production. Russian scientists have helped the Iranians to produce anthrax.
• Encephalitis. The blueprint of this virus, Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis, was provided by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in an agreement two years ago with the Islamic regime.
• Yellow grain. This third agent, developed with the help of North Korea but named “yellow grain” by the Iranians, has no smell and upon impact will destroy the body’s defensive system. Victims would have a hard time walking or breathing within hours and slowly their digestive systems would be destroyed, likely followed by death within 48 hours.

“Yellow grain” could be similar to “yellow rain,” which the then-Soviet Union allegedly provided to North Vietnam and Laos to use against U.S.-backed rebels.

The source said Iran has provided this agent to the terrorist group Hezbollah to use in artillery shells and rockets, and has armed cluster bombs with it for any confrontation with Israel and America.

“It is no secret that Iran, in addition to pursuing nuclear weapons, has major programs for biological and chemical weapons, in defiance of the Biological and Chemical Weapons Convention that supposedly bans such weapons worldwide,” said Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, an advisory board to Congress.

Dr. Pry said a former high-ranking Iranian official of proven credibility with access to the inner circles of Iran’s government also alleged that Iran has armed missiles with chemical and biological warheads. According to this source, Iran has contingency plans for a massive biological and chemical attack against Israel should Israel attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The Shahid Bahonar site is heavily guarded and is visited weekly by a representative of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. All personnel, including members of the intelligence division on routine inspection, are disarmed before being allowed entry. Antiaircraft missiles and batteries surround the site, and plans call for further expansion, including a hospital for plant personnel.

The arming of warheads with microbial agents takes place at this site and, according to the source, those warheads, which do not create an explosion but spray a large area, can kill tens of thousands of people quickly.

Clare M. Lopez, a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy, said that, “From research published by Dr. Jill Dekker of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Dr. Anthony Cordesman at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and others, we know that Iran, although a signatory to the Biological Weapons Convention, is reported to have weaponized anthrax, mycotoxins and smallpox. Iran possesses a sophisticated technological infrastructure, including university laboratories, within which it seeks to conceal its (biological weapons) program.

“The use or even threat of use of biological weapons by Iran – whether a bacterium like anthrax, a virus like Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis or a mycotoxin like yellow rain – would cross a red line, certainly for Israel and for the international community as well,” Lopez said. “Iran must know that even the threatened deployment of such biological weapons would invite an overwhelming military response that could devastate the country.”

As reported in WND on Dec. 4, the Islamic regime has 170 ballistic missiles pointed at Tel Aviv alone, some armed with biological warheads. A knowledgeable Middle East security official from another country, who did not want to be named, verified knowledge of Iranian ballistic missiles armed with biological weapons, stating that 500 ballistic missiles are pointed at Israel and that also several other countries are on the regime’s target list.

Much more information on additional projects under development at this site with details on the viruses, missiles and advancement of the regime’s nuclear bomb program will soon be published in WND.

Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for a former CIA operative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and author of the award-winning book

“A Time to Betray” (Simon & Schuster, 2010). He serves on the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and the advisory board of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran (FDI).