Thread by @StrickerNonpro

Today, the administration added five Iranian individuals to the Commerce Dept's Entity List. @SecPompeo says they were "involved in Iran's pre-2004 nuclear weapons program, known as the Amad program."

Some background on these men:

Sayyed Mohammad Mehdi Hadavi:

A former Ministry of Defense official, named in the Iranian Nuclear Archive as involved in 2003 decisions to hide nuclear weapons activities that Iran planned to continue.

See our report mentioning him: fdd.org/analysis/2018/…

Mehdi Teranchi:

A physicist and current acting president of Islamic Azad University & head of the Supreme Council for Science, Research and Technology commission...

Teranchi appears in photos & activities in the Nuclear Archive:

"Tehranchi worked on sub projects 3/20 and 3/30 under the Amad Plan, aimed at testing flash x-rays in the former Parchin high explosive test chamber."

Report discussing his role: isis-online.org/isis-reports/d…

In 2019, Tehranchi took the time to write a piece in the Tehran Times complaining about an article I wrote with David Albright, which urged the U.S. to not re-enter the JCPOA and to reach a better deal:

tehrantimes.com/news/436822/Po…

Kamran Daneshjou:

Formerly Minister of Science, Research, and Technology and active in speaking out against Iran joining the Additional Protocol in 2014 because it could mean intrusive inspections:

theiranproject.com/blog/2014/01/0…

Daneshjou works in aerospace applications at Iran University of Science and Technology:

researchgate.net/scientific-con… ;
iust.ac.ir/content/873/Da…

Designated by Canada in 2010 for proliferation activities, according to Iran Watch: iranwatch.org/iranian-entiti…

Aref Bali Lashak:

The MEK has called him the head of an SPND "Center for Research and Design of New Aerospace Technology" and received a delegation from North Korea in April 2015:

thehill.com/blogs/congress…

MEK alleged that Daneshjou's "section of SPND['s] responsibility is electronics area of research and manufacturing interior parts of nuclear warhead.

My @FDD colleagues have also tracked his role in human rights violations and urged his sanctioning.

Ali Mehdipour Omrani:

My colleague @eottolenghi wrote about Omrani in 2012-

Per MEK: As director of the Center for Industrial Production and Research, Omrani conducted “an explosive test on Tungsten to increase its density” at the Parchin site as late as 2006."

As Emanuele notes, "Manipulating tungsten can be critical to the design of a nuclear warhead."

fdd.org/analysis/2012/…

A search on Omrani shows work in explosive cladding:

ijmse.iust.ac.ir/search.php?sid…

Pompeo noted that these five scientists "continue to be employed by the regime to this day. After work on the Amad plan was stopped, Iran continued to preserve its Amad-era records & its cadre of nuclear weapons scientists, including these individuals."

state.gov/secretary-mich…

Pompeo: "These new listings...reaffirm the importance of demanding a full & honest accountability & accounting from Iran of its past nuclear weapons-related activities."

The admin's focus is key in light of Iran's ongoing denial of IAEA cooperation:

fdd.org/analysis/2020/…

The seizure by Israel of Iran's nuclear archive continues to offer vital insight into people still active in Iran's ongoing nuclear activities. It is no doubt assisting U.S. & other govts in investigating & designating these individuals.

More to be done: fdd.org/analysis/2019/…