Israel on alert

Netanyahu exposes Iran’s secret nuclear bomb site

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday accused Iran of having a previously undisclosed site aimed at developing nuclear weapons that it destroyed.

Iran destroyed the site located near the city of Abadeh, south of Isfahan, sometime between late June and late July after realizing that Israel had detected it, Netanyahu alleged.

In an address on live television, with photos of the alleged site on a screen behind him, Netanyahu referred to an intelligence trove he had previously announced last year.

“Today we reveal that yet another secret nuclear site was exposed in the archives that we brought from Tehran,” Netanyahu said.

“In this site, Iran conducted experiments to develop nuclear weapons…

When Iran realized that we uncovered the site, here’s what they did: They destroyed the site, they just wiped it out.”

The prime minister, whose country is an arch-enemy of Iran, did not provide further details on the alleged experiments, or when they purportedly were held.

Tehran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif hit back at Netanyahu on Twitter late Monday saying “the possessor of REAL nukes cries wolf-on an ALLEGED ‘demolished’ site in Iran.”

He accused Israel and its U.S. ally of seeking “war.”

Israel has never officially confirmed that it has a nuclear arsenal but is widely believed to be the only state in the Middle East with such weapons.

When Netanyahu announced the intelligence trove allegedly obtained from a secret compound in Tehran, he said he had new “proof” of an Iranian nuclear weapons plan that could be activated at any time.

But while he then accused Iran of lying about its atomic ambitions, he did not provide evidence that Tehran had actively worked to obtain the bomb since its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Netanyahu’s latest statement comes just days ahead of Israel’s September 17 polls in which he is facing a difficult re-election campaign and opponents accused him of politicizing intelligence with the presentation.

AP-Yonhap A March 27 satellite image, top, of the site provided by Maxar Technologies shows a compound with a series of buildings surrounding a courtyard, with other smaller structures away from it. An Aug. 12 satellite image, bottom, unveiled Monday, by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shows what he said was a previously undisclosed Iranian nuclear weapons site.