Iran is seeking volunteers to act as a massive human shield around Iran's nuclear reactor in case of a military attack against the facility. About two weeks ago Iran announced its plans build more nuclear power plants with Russian help the in southern port city of Bushehr, ignoring US and Israeli concerns that by-products from the plants could be used to manufacture atomic bombs. The US and Israel strongly suspect Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, but Iran has consistently denied the charges. The Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign is organizing the human shield campaign to protect Bushehr reactor, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Wednesday. According to a spokesman for the group, 25,000 people have already signed up to participate in the shield campaign, Army Radio reported.
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami continues to insist that Iran's nuclear program is geared only toward the production of electricity. Iran's Nuclear Energy Council has decided the country needs to produce 7,000 megawatts of electricity through nuclear power plants by 2021 to meet Iran's increasing electricity demands. Khatami issued a "guarantee" not to seek atomic weapons, and warned Washington that it can't stabilize Iraq and Afghanistan without Teheran's help.
Iran began assembly of an "army of martyrs" in June, recruited by The Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign. In the first week of its June campaign, officials of the group said 10,000 young volunteers registered for "martyrdom operations" against Israel and US forces in Iraq. Iran has also issued threats in the past, including one in the past month, that it would destroy Israel's Dimona nuclear reactor if the Jewish state were to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. "If Israel fires a missile into the Bushehr nuclear power plant, it has to say goodbye forever to its Dimona nuclear facility, where it produces and stockpiles nuclear weapons," said the deputy chief of the elite Revolutionary Guards, Brig.-Gen. Muhammad Baqer Zolqadr, in a statement a month ago. |