Tehran accused of defying nuke treaty
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said on Thursday that the International Atomic Energy Agency had validated his long-standing allegation that Iran has been maintaining a secret nuclear site in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty — a claim that the agency did not publicly confirm.
Mr Netanyahu’s assertion came as the Vienna-based agency held a closeddoor meeting on Thursday about questions concerning Iran’s “safeguard declarations” but did not specify more precisely what had been discussed.
The Israeli leader spoke hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, while visiting Europe, accused Iran of “nuclear extortion” by having accelerated its ability to develop a nuclear weapon in a shortened time frame.
The statements from Mr Netanyahu and Mr Pompeo, both avowed critics of the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, appeared aimed at escalating the pressure on the Europeans to abandon the accord instead of scrambling to salvage it, as they have been doing since President Donald Trump formally withdrew last year and reimposed tough sanctions on Iran.
“The IAEA now confirms that Iran lied. And that Iran continues to lie,” Mr Netanyahu said. ”Europe must stop stalling,” he added. “It must act against Iranian aggression now.”
Mr Netanyahu was referring to a site in Turquzabad, south of Tehran, where, in a speech at the United Nations in September 2018, he charged that Iran had been storing “massive amounts” of nuclear equipment and material. He said then that Israel had shared that information with the agency’s inspectors.
Providing further details, Israeli intelligence and national security officials contended late Thursday that the atomic agency’s inspections earlier this year, including analysis of samples taken from the site, had shown that Iran stored nuclear material at the Turquzabad site that had been converted from raw uranium but not yet enriched. The Israelis also said the material’s characteristics and age did not correspond with any nuclear facility previously disclosed by Iran.
In other words, the Israeli officials said, the inspection pointed to the existence of a secret Iranian nuclear conversion facility, which if confirmed amounted to a fresh violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty’s safeguards agreement.
The Israeli officials briefed international journalists on the condition that their names, titles and agencies not be published.
Echoing the prime minister, the Israeli officials expressed hope that what they described as the new finding would help persuade the international community — and in particular Germany, France and Britain, along with the broader European Union — to abandon hopes of reviving the Iran nuclear deal, and join with the United States in its “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign against Iran.
The moves raise “concerns that Iran is positioning itself to have the option of a rapid nuclear breakout”, Mr Pompeo said, meaning a rush to develop a nuclear bomb. He added: “The United States will never allow this to happen.”