Simay Azadi – Hossein Alaei says PMOI disclosures led to international scrutiny of Iran’s nuclear program and the 2003 Saadabad negotiations.
In an interview published by the regime-affiliated Iran Talk channel on June 3, 2026, former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Hossein Alaei acknowledged that disclosures by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) regarding Iran’s nuclear activities triggered international scrutiny and eventually led to negotiations between Tehran and European powers.
Alaei, the first commander of the IRGC Navy and a former chief of the IRGC Joint Staff, referred to the period when Iran’s nuclear program first came under international attention.
“Around 2001, when the nuclear work began, the PMOI disclosed information about it and created sensitivity that eventually led to the Saadabad negotiations in 2003,” he said.
The remarks are notable because they come from a senior former commander of the Revolutionary Guards and constitute a public acknowledgment of the role played by the PMOI’s nuclear revelations in shaping the international response to Iran’s nuclear program.
Alaei argued that Tehran could have chosen a different path at the time.
“If Iran had made economic development its strategy at that point, many things could have changed.”
He added:
“At the very least, it would not have provided them with that pretext.”
The Saadabad negotiations, held in October 2003 between Iran and the foreign ministers of Britain, France, and Germany, followed mounting international concern over previously undisclosed nuclear activities. The talks resulted in Tehran agreeing to temporarily suspend uranium enrichment and cooperate more closely with international inspectors.
The PMOI’s disclosures regarding secret nuclear facilities in the early 2000s played a central role in bringing the issue to international attention. The revelations ultimately triggered investigations by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and years of diplomatic disputes over the nature and purpose of Iran’s nuclear program.
#Thread
— SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) August 14, 2025
1- 📅 August 14 marks 23 years since the Iranian Resistance first blew the whistle on the regime’s clandestine nuclear weapons program.
On this day in 2002, @iran_policy’s @A_Jafarzadeh revealed details of the regime’s Natanz uranium enrichment site and the Arak heavy… pic.twitter.com/KPCFo0VSQJ
Alaei’s comments are not the first acknowledgment by regime insiders of the impact of those disclosures.
In a televised interview in April 2022, former Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ali Motahari stated:
“From the very beginning, when we started with the nuclear activity, our goal was to build a bomb and reinforce our deterrence powers, but we were unable to maintain confidentiality as confidential reports were leaked by the hypocrites’ group.”
In April 2022, Ali Motahari, former Deputy Speaker of Iran’s Parliament, admitted that the regime had intended to build a nuclear weapon from the beginning but was stopped by the MEK.
— Ehsan Eghbal Eslami (@Ehsaneghbale) December 5, 2025
When asked how they accessed the top-secret intelligence, he said:
“They are everywhere.” pic.twitter.com/5ZwdXcWhZa
“Hypocrites” is the regime’s pejorative term for the PMOI.
Similarly, senior IRGC officials have previously blamed the organization for exposing the nuclear program. In a televised speech on September 7, 2013, then-IRGC commander Hossein Salami said:
“They were the ones who, through espionage in our nuclear environment, created an atmosphere in the international system regarding our nuclear activities.”
More than two decades after the PMOI first revealed information about Iran’s nuclear activities, Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons stays serious international concern.