Jerusalem – Israel began sharing an intelligence trove on Iran’s allegednuclear ambitions Tuesday, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facedaccusations his televised unveiling of it lacked evidence a 2015 accord hadbeen violated.
The IAEA, the United Nations atomic watchdog, said it would evaluate anynew relevant information, but cited its assessment from three years agothat it had no “credible indications” of an Iranian nuclear weapons pursuitafter 2009.
Netanyahu’s elaborate presentation live on television Monday night cameahead of a crucial decision by US President Donald Trump by May 12 onwhether to withdraw from the nuclear agreement between world powers andIran.
The Israeli premier said tens of thousands of documents recently recoveredby intelligence operatives in Tehran proved his country’s main enemy Iranhad a secret nuclear weapons programme it could put into action at any time.
But the presentation that included props, video and slides immediately ledto accusations from some that the White House and Netanyahu coordinated itas Trump considers whether to pull out of the nuclear deal he has harshlycriticised.
Some analysts and proponents of the nuclear agreement also said Netanyahuhad presented previously known details and failed to produce evidence thatshowed Iran was not abiding by the accord.
“I have not seen from Prime Minister Netanyahu arguments for the moment onnon-compliance, meaning violation by Iran of its nuclear commitments underthe deal,” European Union diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said.
“And again, the deal was put in place exactly because there was no trustbetween the parties, otherwise we would not have required a nuclear deal tobe put in place.”
France’s foreign ministry said Tuesday Netanyahu’s claims reinforced theimportance of the nuclear deal.
– ‘Infamous liar’ –
Iran lashed out at Netanyahu, with foreign ministry spokesman BahramGhasemi on Tuesday calling him an “infamous liar.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said immediately after thepresentation that Netanyahu was “the boy who cries wolf.”
Trump however welcomed Netanyahu’s presentation, as did his Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo, who met with the Israeli leader on Sunday in Tel Aviv.
The White House caused some confusion with its statement on the Israelitrove, at first saying it showed Iran “has” a secret nuclear weaponsprogramme before later changing it to “had”.
“These facts are consistent with what the United States has long known:Iran had a robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program that it has triedand failed to hide from the world and from its own people,” the statementsaid.
“The Iranian regime has shown it will use destructive weapons against itsneighbours and others. Iran must never have nuclear weapons.”
Trump and his Middle East allies, particularly Israel, argue that theagreement approved by Barack Obama was too weak and needs to be replacedwith a more permanent arrangement and supplemented by controls on Iran’smissile programme.
The Israeli premier has repeatedly called for the accord — which Iransigned with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States– to either be altered or scrapped.
In Monday night’s presentation, Netanyahu accused Iran of lying about itsnuclear ambitions, saying Israel had recently obtained tens of thousands offiles in a “great intelligence achievement.”
Iran has always denied it sought a nuclear weapon, insisting its atomicprogramme was for civilian purposes.
Netanyahu said the files had been moved to a secret compound in Tehran in2017 that looked dilapidated from the outside. – APP/AFP