Iranian nuclear scientists' secretive Russia visit raises Western alarms
By bellecarter // 2025-08-07
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  • In summer 2024, Iranian nuclear scientists led by physicist Ali Kalvand made a clandestine trip to Russia, inspecting facilities potentially linked to nuclear weapons development, as reported by the Financial Times. The delegation used diplomatic passports to visit a Russian research site housing dual-use technologies.
  • The visit occurred amid escalating cooperation between Moscow and Tehran, including trade, defense and technology collaborations since Russia's Ukraine invasion. While Russia supports Iran’s nuclear energy rights, the U.S. and Israel suspect covert weapons development.
  • Among the delegation was Soroush Mohtashami, a specialist in neutron generators—devices that can trigger nuclear detonations—raising Western concerns about Iran’s potential weapons ambitions despite Tehran's denials.
  • Documents revealed Kalvand's request to a Russian supplier for tightly regulated isotopes (tritium, Strontium-90, Nickel-63), fueling suspicions. Tritium, in particular, has limited civilian uses but is critical for nuclear weapons, prompting analysts to view the request as a "smoking gun."
  • The visit followed heightened tensions, including the 2025 U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. Iran's pursuit of nuclear capabilities is partly motivated by regional security threats (e.g., Israel's nuclear arsenal) and lessons from Libya's abandonment of its program, underscoring non-proliferation challenges amid global instability.
A group of Iranian nuclear scientists, led by prominent physicist Ali Kalvand, made a clandestine trip to Russia in the summer of 2024. The visit shrouded in secrecy sought to inspect facilities with technologies that could be linked to nuclear weapons development, according to a report by the Financial Times (FT). The investigation drew on official correspondence, travel documents and corporate records. It suggested that Russia may have provided more technical – and potentially material – support to Iran's nuclear ambitions than previously recognized. Since the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war, Moscow and Tehran have significantly bolstered their trade, technology and defense collaborations. While Russia has consistently defended Iran's right to develop nuclear energy, the U.S. and Israel have long warned about Iran's alleged covert efforts to develop atomic weapons. The FT report reveals that Kalvand's team, traveling on diplomatic passports, visited a Russian research site in August 2024. This site is known to house systems that serve both civilian purposes and potential applications in nuclear weapons research. Of particular concern is the presence of Soroush Mohtashami, a scientist specializing in neutron generators – devices capable of initiating nuclear detonations. The report underscores the broader context of suspicion surrounding such delegations. Western intelligence agencies have noted a pattern of Iranian scientists attempting to procure nuclear-related technology from abroad. This activity has fueled longstanding concerns that Iran may be reviving a secret nuclear weapons program, despite Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's 2003 halt to such efforts. Kalvand, however, insisted to Russian scientist Oleg Maslennikov that the trip's purpose was to discuss technical and production aspects of electronic devices and to explore opportunities for scientific collaboration. Yet the FT report, based on its analysis of the documents, alleges that the Iranian team's priorities extended beyond technical expertise to the procurement of tightly monitored nuclear materials. (Related: Putin advocates for Iran's peaceful nuclear rights amid regional tensions.)

The quest for radioactive materials

In late May 2024, as Kalvand was organizing the delegation's trip, he sent a letter to Ritverc, a Russian supplier of nuclear isotopes, on DamavandTec-headed paper. The letter requested three radioactive isotopes – tritium, strontium-90 and nickel-63 – for research purposes, without specifying the quantities desired. While there is no evidence that the Iranian group obtained these isotopes, the request has raised alarms in the West. Tritium, for instance, has limited civilian applications in lighting, medical diagnostics and fusion research – but its commercial use is highly regulated. According to William Alberque, a former head of NATO's arms control, disarmament and WMD non-proliferation center, "anybody asks for tritium and I automatically assume weapons." Alberque, now a senior adjunct fellow at the Pacific Forum, adds, "With the klystrons, I think, 'You clever duck, it could be other things.' You throw in tritium and I say, that's a smoking gun." The timing of the visit is also crucial in light of the recent Israeli-U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. This 12-day conflict, which took place in the summer of 2025, has likely intensified Tehran's desire for nuclear capabilities, assuming it was not already on this path. Iranian leaders have long complained about the regional security imbalance, given Israel's undeclared nuclear arsenal. Additionally, the U.S.-led regime change operations in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan and the subsequent overthrow of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi after he abandoned his nuclear ambitions have not been lost on Tehran. Nuclear.news has more similar stories. Watch this video about Russia building nuclear reactors in Iran. This video is from Cynthia's Pursuit of Truth channel on Brighteon.com.

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