3 hours ago
Naftali Bennett, Israeli Prime Minister
The Israeli prime minister said that Iran used documents stolen from the International Atomic Energy Agency, to help conceal that it was carrying out prohibited nuclear activities.
Naftali Bennett said, in a video clip, that Iran “lied to the world and Iran is lying to the world once more now.”
He presented what he said were copies of Iran’s “deception plan,” including handwritten notes in Farsi, saying Iran should prepare a “cover story.”
Iran denies it has a secret nuclear weapons program, saying Israel falsified the alleged evidence.
This comes before an upcoming meeting next week, when the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, is scheduled to present a report on the agency’s investigation into unexplained nuclear materials found at three undeclared sites in Iran.
The report says that “Iran has not provided credible technical explanations regarding what the agency found in those sites,” according to the Archyde.com news agency, which has seen the report.
Western countries suspect that Iran may be seeking to build nuclear weapons in violation of the agreements, which Iran vehemently denies.
Talks between world powers and Iran aimed at reviving the 2015 agreement that had limited Iran’s nuclear activities in return for the easing of tough economic sanctions have stalled. Iran continued activity prohibited under the deal, following the United States withdrew from it in 2018 and reimposed sanctions.
On Monday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran’s estimated stockpile of enriched uranium, which can be used to make reactor fuel as well as potential nuclear bombs, is 18 times more than allowed under the 2015 deal.
picture released, EPA
Iran has previously accused Israel of fabricating evidence
In his video message, Bennett said, “I carry in my hands evidence of Iran’s lies.”
“After Iran stole classified documents from the United Nations nuclear agency, it used this information to find out what the agency was hoping to find, then created cover stories and hid evidence to evade its nuclear investigations,” he added.
Bennett said the documents, which were taken by Israeli intelligence agents in a daring raid on a warehouse in Tehran in 2018, contain evidence of Iran’s deception.
He showed copies of documents, including what he said were handwritten notes in Farsi, written by the then Iranian defense minister, to the great nuclear scientist, the late Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
One of the notes, Bennett said, says, “Sooner or later, they will ask us (the IAEA) and we will need a comprehensive cover story for them.”
Mr. Fakhrizadeh was killed by satellite-controlled machine gun fire in Tehran in November of 2020, in an assassination that Iran blamed on Israel and an exiled opposition group.
Israel has not denied responsibility for his death.
Iran has previously said that the documents that Israel says it took from the warehouse are fake.
