Israel Atomic Energy Chief Moshe Edri told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tuesday that Iran has continued to manipulate inspectors and the West, even as it has drawn dangerously close to crossing the nuclear weapons threshold.
Speaking at the organization’s annual meeting on Tuesday, he said, “There is no doubt that Iran established a military nuclear program with the goal of developing a number of nuclear weapons. Iran continues to advance this program by obtaining relevant technology and knowledge, along with a worrying volume of enriched uranium.”
Edri said that Tehran “has been carrying out clandestine nuclear activities at undeclared sites for many years. The IAEA found decisive evidence of the existence of these activities, including the use of undeclared nuclear materials and related equipment.”
The Islamic Republic is getting away with these continued violations of its various international commitments “despite repeated decisions of the IAEA Board of Governors,” said Edri. It also failed to “provide credible technical explanations for these activities, and it continues to deceive the IAEA [and] the international community.”
He additionally warned that Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas have also tried to execute plans to attack Israel’s nuclear facilities (Israel admits that it has such facilities, such as at Dimona, but does not publicly discuss any potential military dimensions.)
Attacking Dimona
Moreover, he cautioned that Tehran is using and distributing ballistic missiles, including to its Yemeni proxy group, the Houthis, who have threatened global maritime travel and trade.
In 2018, the Mossad seized Iran’s secret nuclear archive in Tehran. Afterwards, it provided voluminous evidence to the IAEA of Iran’s plot to develop five nuclear weapons, including the five potential sites for testing such weapons.
Since 2019, the Islamic Republic and the IAEA have been at loggerheads over a refusal to fully answer questions posed by the international nuclear watchdog.