Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has published evidence that he says proves that Iran stole documents from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to create cover stories and hide parts of its nuclear program from inspectors.
Bennett tweeted a video showing Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian being interviewed at the World Economic Forum in Davos after the Wall Street Journal reported on the stolen documents last week, which the minister labelled as “lies” from “Zionists”.
The video then cuts to Bennett holding internal Iranian documents confirming the Wall Street Journal’s report, saying they are “proof of [Iran’s] lies”.
Bennett also tweeted a satirical cartoon recreation of Iran hiding its nuclear weapons from IAEA inspectors, writing in the tweet: “Iran stole classified documents from the UN’s Atomic Agency and used that information to systematically evade nuclear probes. How do we know? Because we got our hands on Iran’s deception plan.”
Iran stole classified documents from the UN’s Atomic Agency @IAEAorg and used that information to systematically evade nuclear probes.
— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) May 31, 2022
How do we know?
Because we got our hands on Iran’s deception plan.
It’s right here:https://t.co/qg1Fj7iClA pic.twitter.com/6dAhI6VmmW
He also tweeted a link to a Google Drive folder with the relevant files and a translation from Farsi into English.
It was reported last week by the Wall Street Journal that Mossad seized Iranian nuclear files in 2018, which included secret documents from the IAEA that Iran had accessed and used to hide parts of its nuclear program from inspectors and create cover stories.
The Iranian records and the IAEA documents, marked as confidential, were seen by senior Iranian military, government, and nuclear officials between 2004 and 2006, Middle East intelligence officials told the Wall Street Journal, when the IAEA was investigating the country’s nuclear program.
The Iranian regime won’t want you to watch this video until the end.
— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) May 31, 2022
But you should. pic.twitter.com/5BdO6xRvf4
The cache obtained by Mossad included handwritten notes in Persian, as well as Iranian notes and commentary on the illicitly-obtained IAEA documents. Unspecified “intelligence methods” were used to obtain the records, the documents say.
One document included a note written by the Iranian defence minister to Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, regarded as the head of Iran’s nuclear program, modifying the date of liquidation of the civilian company Kimia Maadan that was working on a uranium mine, which allowed Iran to tell the IAEA that it was being mined for civilian purposes, not military.
The comment read: "This is one of the major topics about which they [the IAEA] will ask us sooner or later, so we need to have a comprehensive scenario for it...Please note that we must hurry."
Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in November 2020. The JC exclusively revealed in February 2021 that a 20-plus spy team, which comprised both Israeli and Iranian nationals, used a one-ton automated gun that was smuggled into the country piece-by-piece by the Mossad to assassinate the man who was known as the "father of the bomb".
Iran Parchin Explosion Chamber
Photos of the explosion chamber at Iran's Parchin facility (Image via Naftali Bennett)
Other documents show Iranian officials using the illicitly-obtained papers to formulate responses to detailed confidential IAEA reports. The notes include comments on the “negative tone” of IAEA conclusions and how to answer questions about inconsistencies noted by the UN agency.
That same document notes that a Belgian nuclear scientist, Pierre Goldschmidt, who was at the time Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Safeguards at the IAEA, is Jewish.
In his video revealing these documents, Naftali Bennett warned: “Iran lied to the world, Iran is lying to the world again right now, and the world must make sure that Iran doesn’t get away scot-free.”
On Monday, the IAEA published a report on undeclared nuclear material found at three sites, as well as Iran’s refusal to answer questions about the locations.
Both US and Israeli officials have said that Iran is just weeks away from having enough fissile material to make a nuclear bomb, should it choose to do so, but it would need more time to build the other components of the device.
On May 17, Israel’s Defence Minister Benny Gantz said: “[Iran] stands just a few weeks away from accumulating fissile material that will be sufficient for a first bomb, holds 60 kilograms of enriched material at 60%, produces metallic uranium at the enrichment level of 20%, and prevents the IAEA from accessing its facilities.”
benny-gantz-gettyimages-1168768617-1568823091.jpg
Benny Gantz
US officials under current president Joe Biden blame former-president Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) for the drop in Iran’s breakout time.
Talks in Vienna to revive the JCPOA stalled in March and remain deadlocked, with one of Iran’s main demands being that the US remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological arm of Iran’s military, from its terrorism blacklist – a move that the US has rejected.
