Iran Got Help from North Korea for Its Ballistic Missile Programme: MEK Network Revealed

On Tuesday, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) released a comprehensive report detailing Iran’s missile program.

Since the Iran nuclear deal was signed in July 2015, it has accelerated its development of missiles. 

The information released by the NCRI was gathered by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK) which has an extensive network of people inside the country gathering intelligence about the workings of the Iranian regime, its terrorist activities, its human rights violations and the ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

The deputy director of the NCRI’s US office said that the intelligence shows “the first full picture of the missile program of the Iranian regime, which is very extensive and costly.” Alireza Jafarzadeh also emphasised that there are close links between the country’s nuclear and missile program. 

It is believed that the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei, ordered the Aerospace Force of the IRGC (the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps) to increase activity to drive the country’s missile program forward once the nuclear deal was signed. Mr. Jafarzadeh said that the reason for this order was to compensate for its “domestic impotence and increasing regional isolation”. He also highlighted that the regime’s missile programme is imperative for its survival, and pointed out that, unfortunately, it has “remained primarily unchecked”.

The NCRI shed light on 12 sites that were previously unknown, and it gives information about their location (with satellite images), their operations and the facilities they contain. 

There has also been a partnership between the Islamic Republic of Iran and North Korea, with North Korea supplying experts and helping with the design of several of the sites. The underground tunnels in Iran have been built according to North Korean models. 

Of the 42 missile sites, 25 are used as storage sites, 15 deal with manufacturing and just over a dozen are used as launching sites. Furthermore, eight sites are being used as training areas to train missile brigades. 

At the weekend, the Iranian regime launched several missile targets in Syria, claiming that it was retaliation against ISIS. The NCRI, however, believe that it was a propaganda ploy intended to hit back against opposition. 

Mr. Jafarzadeh said: “The primary reason for launching these missiles was in no way ISIS. According to many reports, the missile did not hit ISIS, but took a lot of casualties among ordinary citizens. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has tens of thousands of forces, including foreign fighters in Syria. It has built missile manufacturing sites on Syrian territory. So, there was absolutely no need to fire missiles from inside Iranian territory. In the past few years, the [Revolutionary Guard] was stationed very close to ISIS in Syria, but did not even fire a single bullet against it.”