Report: UN Official Consulted for Iranian Nuclear Program

August 16, 2024

by: Itamar Eichner ~ Ynetnews

Friday, 16 August 2024 | Abdolrasool Divsallar, a senior Iranian official at the United Nations specializing in “weapons of mass destruction-free zone,” has allegedly consulted Iran’s nuclear weapons program, UK-based Jewish newspaper Jewish Chronicle reported on Thursday.

Divsallar, a prominent figure at the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), has strongly denied any ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) or Tehran’s nuclear activities.

However, Divsallar’s uncovered resume reveals he advised an IRGC general and held key positions in institutions involved in the nuclear program, which were later sanctioned by the United States. Divsallar also boasted about his work for senior IRCG officials, expressing admiration for its commanders.

In an interview with the Iranian Borna news outlet, Divsallar said he spent time advising a “friend,” IRCG General Gholamreza Jalali, and said the period was “one of the best times of my career.”

He noted in the same interview, “I learned a lot from the commander’s personality and management qualities.”

He also praised one of the prominent IRGC commanders, Mohsen Rezaei, who is wanted for the murder of 85 people in the 1994 Buenos Aires bombing. When questioned about these roles, Divsallar said he could not go into details “for security reasons.”

The Jewish Chronicle also uncovered a 2007 book on “military science” authored by Divsallar and published by the Defense Industries Training and Research Institute (DITRI), an organization that describes itself as a “think tank with the aim of supporting the armed forces in the field of soft sciences.”

The former head of the institute, Mohammad Eslami, was sanctioned in 2008, a year after Divsallar’s book was published, and remains on the UN blacklist due to his alleged role in nuclear proliferation and atomic weapon development.

According to the interview and Divsallar’s Iranian resume—which includes his photo from 2008–2009—he was promoted to head a division of the IRGC’s Passive Defense Organization (PDO). The PDO was founded to protect the Iranian home front from “ideological challenges” and to control Iranian cities during periods of domestic unrest.

The organization has faced various Western sanctions since 2010 due to its links to Iran’s nuclear program, including the uranium enrichment site at Fordow. The PDO is led by General Jalali. In his 2015 interview, Divsallar said, “The time when I really feel that I learned a lot was when I was in the service of Sardar Jalali in the PDO.”

Jalali is notorious for calling for harsh responses against protesters in Iran. He also accused Israel of causing bad weather in Iran and called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “Hitler.”

In addition to his praise for Rezaei, Divsallar also expressed personal affection for Admiral Ali Shamkhani, a senior IRGC official and military advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was sanctioned in 2020. Divsallar called both men “loved ones,” who provided him with “space” and “opportunities.”

He also confirmed in the same interview [that he] delivered 70 lectures on “threat identification and passive defense ” to the IRGC, the Iranian military, the Defense Ministry and Interior Ministry between 2005 and 2009.

Divsallar taught at Malek Ashtar University, an institution sanctioned by the UN Security Council in 2010 due to its involvement in Iran’s nuclear program. Sanctions were also imposed by the European Union, the US, Australia, Canada and the UK. In September 2023, Divsallar began a role as a senior researcher in Geneva, Switzerland, and hasn’t returned to Iran.

As of now, he has access to senior UN officials and works within an organization that claims to be “preventing and limiting the impact of the uncontrolled proliferation and use of conventional weapons and ammunition” for “a stable and more secure world in which people are protected from threats of arms-related violence.”

The organization’s proclaimed goal is to create a “weapons of mass destruction-free zone” in the Middle East. Founded in 2019 and funded by the EU, the organization has seen Divsallar advocate for easing sanctions on Iran and call for the West to strengthen diplomatic ties with Tehran.

In response to the allegations, he told the outlet, “The organizations you referenced are not affiliated with the IRGC, and I have had no involvement with any IRGC activities or organizations. My expertise in disarmament, which encompasses state security and military assessments, significantly contributes to my advocacy efforts against all nuclear weapons in the Middle East.”

“I have never been an adviser to the Passive Defense Organization or worked there. I authored a book on the topic and am recognized as a scholar in the field. I firmly reject any claims of sanitizing my CV, as all my main past experiences are accurately detailed on the MEI and UNIDIR websites.”

He didn’t deny being interviewed by a state-run Iranian channel but claimed it published “misinformation.” According to him, the interview has since been removed from the Iranian site.

The site’s managers said his statements were “mixed up with another.” When asked about his Iranian resume, which was published on another pro-regime website, Divsallar said, “I am not familiar with the website that has my bio…I have never been affiliated with them; they aggregated information from other websites, including the article from Borna with incorrect information.”

“While you are free to write your article, I urge you to avoid perpetuating this misinformation,” he added.

Posted on August 16, 2024

Source: (This article was originally published by the Ynetnews on August 15, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Elekes Andor/Wikimedia.org

Photo License: Wikimedia