MI6 spies ‘smuggled a defecting Iranian nuclear scientist into the UK on a dinghy by using Channel migrant crisis as cover’
- The nuclear technician is thought to have hidden among other Iranian migrants
- The inflatable boat landed in Lydd, Kent, on New Year’s Eve with 12 migrants
- Joint operation involved MI6, the CIA and Mossad, who hatched plan in October
- CIA and MI6 are keen to question the man about Iran’s nuclear programme
British spies used the migrant crisis as cover to smuggle an Iranian nuclear scientist to safety on a dinghy, sources have claimed.
The 47-year-old nuclear technician is thought to have hidden amongst other Iranian migrants on the inflatable boat when making the crossing across the channel.
The man arrived on New Year’s Eve in Lydd, Kent, with 12 other migrants after the joint-operation involving MI6, the CIA and Mossad.
The technician, who has information about Iran’s nuclear programme, reportedly helped plan the assassination of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a nuclear scientist who died in a car explosion in Tehran in 2012.
The nuclear scientist was originally smuggled out of Iran by Mossad before making the lengthy trip across Europe and into the UK
The scheme to smuggle him out was hatched in October and Mossad managed to get him out of Iran and into Turkey, before he made the long 3,000 mile journey to Britain.
The plot became complicated after America dropped the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran nuclear deal, which Britain supports.
The intelligence services did not want to be seen helping him get to England.
A source told the Sunday Express: ‘This wasn’t without its challenges.
‘His absence was noted quickly and we were informed that a special unit of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had been dispatched.
‘Once in France the question of how to get him into Britain remained.
‘We couldn’t simply fly him in.
‘Though unusual, it was determined infiltrating him into a group of fellow migrants preparing to cross the Channel by boat offered one solution.’
A dinghy was recovered in Lydd, Kent, on New Year’s Eve, with a number of suspected migrants on board
MI6 interviewed the nuclear technician on Iran’s nuclear plans before he was flown to America.
For decades Western nations have been concerned about Iran’s nuclear program, accusing Tehran of seeking atomic weapons.
Iran long has said its program is for peaceful purposes, but it faced years of crippling sanctions.
The 2015 nuclear deal Iran struck with world powers, including the U.S. under President Barack Obama, was aimed at relieving those fears.
Trump, who campaigned on a promise to tear up the nuclear deal, said he ultimately pulled America out of the accord over Iran’s ballistic missile program and its malign influence on the wider Mideast.