An Iranian dissident leader who once exposed Tehran's covert nuclear program warned on Newsmax on Monday that the regime's history of "deception, lies, and hiding" suggests more undisclosed nuclear sites may still exist, despite recent U.S. and Israeli strikes.
"Well, it's certainly [possible since] the Iranian regime has a history of deception, lies, and hiding," Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the Washington office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, or NCRI, told "Finnerty."
"So I wouldn't be surprised if there are other [nuclear] sites," he said.
His comments come just days after the United States joined Israel in coordinated military strikes early Sunday, targeting three of Iran's most prominent nuclear sites — Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan.
President Donald Trump announced that the targets had been "completely and fully obliterated" though independent damage assessments remain pending.
Jafarzadeh, whose 2002 disclosures helped expose Iran's clandestine nuclear activities, warned that the regime's long-standing pattern of concealment makes it likely that other sites remain hidden from international inspectors and intelligence agencies.
"But whatever. We already knew, and we, as you said, played a huge role in exposing much of the nuclear sites of Iran," he said. "This was already a very serious situation."
He emphasized that the regime's nuclear ambitions are only one aspect of a broader struggle by the Iranian people against a "religious dictatorship."
"Now, with the announcement made by the president tonight, our leader, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, she actually welcomed the ceasefire and the end of the war," Jafarzadeh said, referring to the leader of the NCRI. "She said this is a big step in favor of the third option… neither appeasement nor war. Let the Iranian people settle their scores in their final fight against the ayatollahs."
Jafarzadeh framed the current developments as part of a long-standing movement for freedom in Iran, stretching back to resistance against the monarchy before the 1979 revolution.
"There's a history over the past 100 years of the struggle of the people of Iran for democracy, the same way that they stood up against the dictatorship of the Shah and the Savak and all of that. They're doing it right now."
He described a vision of Iran's future as a secular, democratic republic free from nuclear weapons and religious rule.
"Just think about it, you know, a free, democratic, non-nuclear republic Iran that separates religion and state and, you know, respects gender equality and all of that," he said. "What a difference it will make, not just for the people of Iran, but for the whole region."
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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