Records show Iran lied about nukes: Israel
JERUSALEM — Israel’s prime minister on Monday unveiled what he said was a “half ton” of Iranian nuclear documents collected by Israeli intelligence, claiming it proved that Iranian leaders covered up a nuclear-weapons program before signing a deal with world powers in 2015.
In a speech delivered in English and relying on his trademark use of visual aids, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the material showed that Iran cannot be trusted, and encouraged U.S. President Donald Trump to withdraw from the deal next month. “Iran lied big time,” Netanyahu declared. In Washington, Trump said it vindicated his past criticism of the nuclear deal.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. had been aware of the documents “for a while” and that he and Netanyahu discussed them during their meeting in Tel Aviv on Sunday.
Speaking with reporters while flying back to the U.S., Pompeo said that although the existence of Iran’s nuclear-arms program had been public knowledge for years, the documents give new detail about its scope and scale and prove Iran was lying when it claimed never to have been pursuing nuclear weapons.
“This will belie any notion that there wasn’t a program,” Pompeo said.
He issued a statement later saying Iran also lied to the six nations with which it negotiated the nuclear agreement. “What this means is the deal was not constructed on a foundation of good faith or transparency. It was built on Iran’s lies,” the statement said.
Iran’s deception is inconsistent with its pledge in the nuclear deal “that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons,” Pompeo said, adding that the U.S. is now assessing what the documents mean for the nuclear deal.
Netanyahu’s presentation, delivered on live TV from Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv, did not appear to provide evidence that Iran has violated the 2015 deal, raising questions about whether it would sway international opinion ahead of Trump’s decision.
The U.S.-led agreement offered Iran relief from crippling sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister and senior nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araghchi, called Netanyahu’s presentation “childish and ridiculous” and said the purported evidence was “fake and fabricated.”
Iran has denied ever seeking nuclear weapons.