We all know that Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been enriching uranium for his nuclear program. He's made no secret of that. However, this runs much deeper than any of us knew. We learn today in a Pajamas Media exclusive by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross that not only is Ahmadinejad enriching uranium, but that he's prospecting for it in Somalia in exchange for weapons meant for Islamic Courts Union, a Taliban-like group, which controls much of Somalia.

Iran is secretly searching for uranium in war-torn Somalia, according to a confidential United Nations report obtained by Pajamas Media.

The report, which has yet to be made public, is available here at Pajamas. Download file / PDF 2 Megabytes

The report notes that two Iranians were "engaged on matters linked to the exploration of Uranium in exchange for arms" in Dusamareb, Somalia. The arms would be given to the Islamic Courts Union (the ICU), a Taliban-like movement that controls much of Somalia.

The UN report spends little time on this surprising development, perhaps because the report's mandate is limited to monitoring violations of Somalia's arms embargo.

"We are extremely concerned about that," a military intelligence officer told Pajamas Media. This concern stems from the fact that the ICU has every incentive to cooperate with Iran: the Islamic group would be unable to mine and market the uranium on its own, and the ICU is always hungry for weapons for its war against Somalia's transitional federal government (TFG).

Dusamareb is known to be rich in uranium. Abdiweli Ali, an assistant professor of economics at Niagara University and a supporter of Somalia's transitional federal government (TFG), is originally from Dusamareb, where he received his primary school education. He reports that in the Galgadud region, where Dusamareb is located, uranium exploration has occurred since the 1940s. This exploration was put on hiatus after the fall of president Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 put the country under the rule of rival warlords.

The uranium prospecting that Iranians are undertaking in Somalia creates problems for U.S. efforts to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. It would provide them with a virtually untraceable source of uranium ore that could be made into weapons.

Al-Qaeda is also active in Somalia, the UN report confirms.

This also creates problems because not only could al Qaeda get a hold of some of these weapons that Iran is using for payment for its uranium prospecting, but what if in the not too distant future it gets a hold of a nuclear weapon from Iran through the ICU? Al Qaeda would not hesitate to use it. And what about the ICU itself? It's an unknown entity at this point.

Another important piece of information in the UN report is on pages 22 and 23, which says the Monitoring Group learned that Hezbollah has worked on behalf of ICU to secure the weapons from Iran. Why? Because in July of 2006, the ICU sent some of its forces to fight with Hezbollah against Israel in the Hezbollah/Israeli war. In fact, some of these ICU fighters stayed in Lebanon after the cease fire was brokered to get additional advanced training.

Everyone needs to read this report because it proves that all these terrorist organizations are not working separately but are working together for one purpose: to bring down Israel and the United States.

Hat tip: RBT and Ray Robison