Human Chain Around Fordo Nuclear Plant

One day before Iranian negotiators met officials from the P5+1 countries in Geneva for an eagerly-anticipated round of nuclear talks, university students and officials created a human chain around Fordo, the heavily fortified nuclear site near the city of Qom.

Carrying signs reading “Fordo Is Our Heart,” the students called on the government to preserve and expand the country’s nuclear achievements and to continue the path of the “nuclear martyrs” (referring to the Iranian nuclear scientists assassinated last year). Ostensibly organized by the Students' Committee for the Preservation and Development of Nuclear Gains, the participants also included officials such as Ali Akbar Salehi, the president of the National Nuclear Energy, and a number of parliamentary representatives.

The students hoisted signs that read  “Students would rather die than accept humiliation,” “We stand by our achievements,”  “Nuclear energy is the fruit of our martyrs’ blood,” “Yes, we can: under sanctions we sent a live animal to space,” “We support our negotiators” and “No to Fordo for Just Research. No!”

The participants also carried pictures of Iranian nuclear martyrs and martyrs from the village of Fordo in Qom.

(Pictures by Siamak Ebrahimi.)