![\"jeff-rathke-300\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/05\/jeff-rathke-300.jpg\" "\\"jeff-rathke-300\\"")
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U.S. officials said they were seriously examining the revelations made by the Iranian Resistance on Thursday that Tehran and Pyongyang are forging ballistic missile and nuclear research ties.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have seen these claims, and we take any such reports seriously,\u201d said State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we don\u2019t have any information at this time that would lead us to believe that these allegations impact our ongoing negotiations over Iran\u2019s nuclear program,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The Iranian regime and the government of North Korea have extensively exchanged information and delegations of experts in the fields of nuclear weapons and nuclear warhead design as recently as late April 2015, information obtained by the Iranian opposition movement the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK) reveals.<\/p>\n
According to the information from various sources inside of the clerical regime, a delegation from North Korea including experts in nuclear warhead, and various elements of ballistic were present in the country for one week at the end of April.<\/p>\n
The information obtained by the PMOI (MEK) network is based on dozens of reports from various sources inside of the clerical regime, in particular from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Ministry of Defense (MoD), the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), which is in charge of working on the weaponization aspect of the nuclear program, and also the Aerospace Industries Organization (AIO).<\/p>\n
A segment of Transcript of U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing
Jeff Rathke, Director, Press Office
May 28, 2015<\/p>\n
QUESTION: On Iran. Have you seen this new report from the Iranian opposition about Iran-North Korea nuclear cooperation? And whether you have or not, can you \u2013 well, if you have, can you speak to it? And if you \u2013 well, if you haven\u2019t, I\u2019ll —<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: Let me answer that one and then you can follow up. So we have seen these claims, and we take any such reports seriously. If I can perhaps anticipate one part of your follow-up, we\u2019re examining the report but we don\u2019t have any information at this time that would lead us to believe that these allegations impact our ongoing negotiations over Iran\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: Go ahead.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: If they \u2013 well, if they —<\/p>\n
QUESTION: (Inaudible) true, I mean —<\/p>\n
QUESTION: If the allegations are correct, how could that not impact the negotiations?<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: Well, again, we \u2013 these allegations \u2013 we\u2019re taking them seriously, we\u2019re examining them. I don\u2019t have a stamp to put on them and say whether we\u2019re we able to verify them or not. We don\u2019t \u2013 we have not been able to verify them thus far. We\u2019re examining the report and —<\/p>\n
QUESTION: This isn\u2019t the first \u2013 this isn\u2019t the first time there have been allegations.<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: That\u2019s true. This group has made —<\/p>\n
QUESTION: No, but others have also said that Iran \u2013 there is a significant amount of cooperation between the two. So are you saying that you have no reason to believe that there is such cooperation, or these particular allegations are unfounded?<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: Well, I\u2019m not saying that they\u2019re unfounded. I\u2019m just saying we don\u2019t have \u2013 we\u2019re examining these allegations. They\u2019re serious. I\u2019m not able to verify them.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: So if you haven\u2019t \u2013 if you\u2019re not able to substantiate whether they\u2019re true or not, how do you know if they\u2019ll impact the negotiations? I mean, if they\u2019re true, feasibly that would impact your negotiations.<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: Well, based on the information that we have at this time, which is the way I would put it.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: If you say, as \u2013 that the allegations are serious, why wouldn\u2019t \u2013 is this something that\u2019s not going to come up in the negotiations?<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: Well, I\u2019m not going to speak to what\u2019s going to come up in the room. But again, serious allegations and we\u2019re looking at them seriously.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Well, let\u2019s put it this way: cutting off Iran\u2019s pathways to a nuclear weapon is a subject that comes up in negotiations, is it not?<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: Certainly.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Okay. So is sanctions relief, is it not?<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: Sure.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Okay. So you\u2019ve just said two things that are involved in the negotiations. You\u2019ve also said that on the sidelines of the negotiations, the fate or the status of the Americans being held or missing comes up.<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: Yes. Right, that is the case.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Why can\u2019t you say whether allegations of Iran\u2019s \u2013 of Iranian cooperation or work with North Korea would come up as part of the negotiations?<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: Well, let me take a step back. First, with respect to North Korea, we continue to work with the international community to exercise vigilance over their proliferation activities worldwide. This is the subject of numerous UN Security Council resolutions. They prohibit the transfer to or from the DPRK of goods, technology, of any assistance related to nuclear ballistic missile or other weapons of mass destruction. You\u2019re familiar with all this, but there is of course a very elaborate international framework, including UN Security Council resolutions, as well as unilateral actions, to address the DPRK\u2019s nuclear and missile programs.<\/p>\n
And in the same way, any cooperation with Iran on proliferation-sensitive nuclear or ballistic activities would also violate relevant UN Security Council resolutions on Iran, including resolution 1929. So you\u2019ve got UN Security Council resolutions that apply to Iran and to North Korea, and so we follow these extremely closely, but I don\u2019t have more to say on these specific allegations, which we are examining.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Okay. But if it\u2019s a violation, and we\u2019ll take \u2013 it\u2019s quite apart from the North \u2013 the sanctions on North Korea, you are not negotiating with North Korea at the moment; you have, but you\u2019re not now. You are negotiating with Iran. Iran is in violation of numerous UN Security Council resolutions dating back years and years and years \u2013 still \u2013 even though they\u2019re complying with the JPOA —<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: Yes.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: — even though you say they\u2019re complying with the JPOA. So why \u2013 is bringing Iran into compliance with all relevant Security Council \u2013 all the Security Council resolutions, is that not a goal of the negotiations here?<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: Well, the nuclear talks are focused on the nuclear-related issues.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: So they can satisfy —<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: So there are other Security Council resolutions that also apply to Iran, and those continue and they will not be affected by it.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: So as part of these negotiations, you could reach an agreement with the Iranians \u2013 could \u2013 without them addressing the nuclear cooperation with North Korea. Is that correct?<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: Well, again —<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Allegations of nuclear cooperation.<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: Again, we are focused on shutting down the pathways to a nuclear weapon. I\u2019m not going to get into the details or to preview how exactly we address these in the negotiating room.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Why didn\u2019t you raise the allegations in the negotiating room since one means to ascertain whether or not the Iranians have any or have had any nuclear cooperation with the North Koreans would be to ask them?<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: Well, I\u2019m not ruling it in or out. I\u2019m just saying I\u2019m not going to prejudge what —<\/p>\n
QUESTION: But why would you \u2013 why wouldn\u2019t you? How could you not raise it? I mean, if you\u2019re trying to figure out if they\u2019re doing it, how do you not ask them?<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: Well, again, we have a variety of ways of trying to verify allegations, especially serious ones. So I don\u2019t have more to say on this than that.<\/p>\n
Yeah.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Can I just \u2013 it\u2019s my understanding \u2013 and I just want to make sure that this is still correct or that it is correct —<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: — that the United States \u2013 this Administration, previous administrations, have expressed concern and have talked about intelligence suggesting that there is cooperation between Iran and North Korea on ballistic missiles. And the \u2013 although you are aware of reports like this one that came out overnight about nuclear cooperation, there isn\u2019t any evidence so far. You haven\u2019t seen any sign that these allegations, while serious, are actually true. Is it still correct that the Administration believes that there is ballistic missile cooperation, but not necessarily nuclear cooperation, between the two?<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: I don\u2019t really have more to say than we have said. We\u2019ve \u2013 there\u2019s an international framework of Security Council resolutions dealing with both countries. We take any allegations of cooperation seriously.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: And then just tangentially, there is a report \u2013 this doesn\u2019t have to do with Iran \u2013 but about significantly increased activity at a North Korean missile \u2013 rocket launching site. Have you seen this? Do you know anything about it?<\/p>\n
MR RATHKE: I haven\u2019t seen that. I\u2019m not familiar with that one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
U.S. officials said they were seriously examining the revelations made by the Iranian Resistance on Thursday that Tehran and Pyongyang are forging ballistic missile and nuclear research ties. “We have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-18395","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-nuclear","7":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n