Israel says Iran lied on nuclear arms, pressures U.S. to scrap deal

By Stephen Farrell

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday presented what he called evidence from secret Iranian documents proving Tehran failed to fully disclose the extent a secret prior nuclear progam, which Netanyahu called a violation of a landmark 2015 deal limiting Iran's nuclear program.

 

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday stepped up pressure on the United States to pull out of a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, presenting what he called evidence of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons programme in a primetime address on Israeli TV.

 

Intelligence experts and diplomats said he did not seem to have presented a "smoking gun" showing that Iran had violated the agreement, although he may have helped make a case on behalf of hawks in the U.S. administration who want to scrap it.

 

Most of the purported evidence Netanyahu unveiled dated to the period before the 2015 accord was signed, although he said Iran had also kept important files on nuclear technology since then, and continued adding to its "nuclear weapons knowledge".

Tehran dismissed Netanyahu as "the boy who cried wolf", and called his presentation propaganda.

 

President Donald Trump has threatened to pull the United States out of the international deal unless it is renegotiated by May 12.

 

After Netanyahu spoke, Trump repeated his criticism of the deal, suggesting he backed the Israeli leader's remarks.

 

"Iran's leaders repeatedly deny ever pursuing nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said at Israel's Defence Ministry, standing in front of stacks of files representing what he described as a vault full of Iranian nuclear documents obtained weeks before.

 

"Tonight I'm here to tell you one thing: Iran lied."

 

"Iran lied about never having a nuclear weapons programme," he said. "One hundred thousand secret files prove it did. Second, even after the deal, Iran continued to preserve and expand its nuclear weapons knowledge for future use."

 

Although the presentation was live on Israeli television, Netanyahu made clear that his audience was abroad: he delivered most of his speech in English, before switching to Hebrew.

 

Netanyahu said he had shared the intelligence with the United States and would dispatch envoys to France and Germany to present it. He also spoke by phone to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

Tehran has denied ever seeking nuclear weapons and accuses its arch-foe Israel of stirring up world suspicions against it.

 

A senior U.S. official said Netanyahu gave new U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a heads-up about the presentation he would give while on a visit to Tel Aviv at the weekend.

 

"We were made aware of his plans," the official said.

 

ANALYSTS, DIPLOMATS SKEPTICAL

Under the 2015 nuclear deal struck by Iran and six major powers - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States - Tehran agreed to limit its nuclear program in return for relief from U.S. and other economic sanctions.

 

Trump gave Britain, France and Germany a May 12 deadline to fix what he views as the deal's flaws - its failure to address Iran's ballistic missile program, the terms by which inspectors visit suspect Iranian sites, and "sunset" clauses under which some of its terms expire - or he will re-impose U.S. sanctions.

 

Much of what Netanyahu presented is unlikely to surprise world powers, which have long concluded that Iran was pursuing atomic weapons before the agreement was signed in 2015: that is in part why they imposed sanctions in the first place.

 

The French ambassador to Washington, Gerard Araud, tweeted that information about past Iranian nuclear activity was in fact an argument in favour of the nuclear deal, not against it.

 

A German government spokesman said it was vital to keep the independent inspections provided for under the deal.

 

Washington's European allies say Tehran has generally abided by the terms of the deal since then, and have urged Trump not to scrap it. Some independent analysts and diplomats said Netanyahu appeared to be presenting old evidence.

 

Eran Etzion, a former deputy Israeli national security adviser who now heads the Israeli-European think-tank Forum of Strategic Dialogue, said on Twitter: "No 'smoking gun' was revealed this evening, nor was it proven that Iran is today developing nuclear weaponry or violating the (nuclear deal) in any other way."

 

A senior European diplomat told Reuters: "We knew all of this and what especially stands out is that Netanyahu doesn’t speak of any recorded violations" of the deal itself.

 

Speaking after Netanyahu's presentation, Trump told a White House news conference the nuclear deal was "a horrible agreement for the United States". He said it would let Tehran develop nuclear arms after seven years and had "proven right what Israel has done today" with Netanyahu's disclosures.

 

However, Washington itself has concluded that Iran has not violated the deal's terms. Two U.S. intelligence officials who have monitored Iran’s nuclear weapons program for years said nothing in Netanyahu’s remarks appeared to contradict that view.

 

"We have seen no new and credible evidence that Iran is violating the agreement, whether in the Prime Minister’s remarks today or from other sources," said one of the officials, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity.

 

Moments before Netanyahu spoke Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted: "The boy who can't stop crying wolf is at it again".

 

Abbas Araqchi, a senior Iranian foreign ministry official, was quoted by Iran's Tasnim news agency as calling Netanyahu's presentation "a childish and ridiculous game" with the goal of influencing Trump's decision ahead of the May 12 deadline.

 

Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, though it neither confirms nor denies possessing atomic weapons.

 

(Reporting by Rami Amichay, Stephen Farrell, Ori Lewis, Ari Rabinovitch, Dan Williams, Arshad Mohammed, John Irish, John Walcott, Steve Holland, Parisa Hafezi and Francois Murphy; Editing by Peter Graff and James Dalgleish)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-05-01

27 minutes ago, webfact said:

After Netanyahu spoke, Trump repeated his criticism of the deal, suggesting he backed the Israeli leader's remarks.

The War Monger and the Whore Monger.

What an unholy alliance.

Netanyahu, of course, never lies. 

47 minutes ago, webfact said:

Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, though it neither confirms nor denies possessing atomic weapons.

Whats he got to say about this? 

6 minutes ago, Lungstib said:

Netanyahu, of course, never lies. 

Whats he got to say about this? 

 Israel's nukes serves as a deterrent, unlike Iran and N. Korea who waves

their nukes as threat and an ultimatum type of ransom to the world,

anybody whos thinks for a moment that Iran is just sitting on their hands

and not developing and enriching weapon grade uranium must also

believe in snowwhite and the seven dwarfs actually do exist... 

2 hours ago, ezzra said:

 Israel's nukes serves as a deterrent, unlike Iran and N. Korea who waves their nukes as threat and an ultimatum type of ransom to the world, anybody whos thinks for a moment that Iran is just sitting on their hands and not developing and enriching weapon grade uranium must also believe in snowwhite and the seven dwarfs actually do exist... 

When has Iran ever threatened anyone with Nukes? Please provide proof of this assertion!

There are many that would question your integrity too, Benny boy!

Jeez, and old Benjamin is such a credible source, what with being the only country in that region to have nukes. Cry wolf, or calling the pott being black, no one believes you any more. Not to mention Israel's illegal policy to occupy all of the West Bank and drive out every last Palestinian.

 

Edited May 1, 20188 yr by rudi49jr

Netanyahu  ( or is it yahoo) is some boy.

He and his family have been embroiled in g&c on several occasions and his economy with the truth is renowned and he lectures iran on truthfulness.

He and trump make an awesome pigeon pair. 

35 minutes ago, Kiwiken said:

When has Iran ever threatened anyone with Nukes? Please provide proof of this asertion!

Asking trumpites for proof is somewhat foolhardy

It would be very naive to think Iran stopped their nuclear weapons programme and they are very right to continue in secret because of enemies like SA , Israel & US.

Who believes Netanyahu ?

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-15637271/sarkozy-says-netanyahu-is-a-liar-in-private-talks-heard-on-mic

If you really want to understand what is going on in the ME, read Isaiah 17 & Ezekiel 38-39! 

It was a political speech, but what he said is really dated information and obviously the truth. Iran certainly was pursuing nuclear weapons before. Duh! Where's anything NEW? 

5 minutes ago, drhugo said:

If you really want to understand what is going on in the ME, read Isaiah 17 & Ezekiel 38-39! 

Pass.

How do you know when a politician is lying?  HIs/her lips are moving.  Netanyahu is no exception to this rule.  He can safely be ignored ... as can the mischief makers in Iran.

He's trying to influence "trump" which probably isn't necessary in this case. It appears "trump" has already decided to exit from the Iran nuclear agreement. He loves exiting things. 

Troll post reported and removed, along with reply.  

27 minutes ago, drhugo said:

If you really want to understand what is going on in the ME, read Isaiah 17 & Ezekiel 38-39! 

Ah, those pesky Russians.  The bible had their number thousands of years ago.  Not exactly on the doorstep of their 6 country coalition. 

4 hours ago, ezzra said:

 Israel's nukes serves as a deterrent, unlike Iran and N. Korea who waves

their nukes as threat and an ultimatum type of ransom to the world,

anybody whos thinks for a moment that Iran is just sitting on their hands

and not developing and enriching weapon grade uranium must also

believe in snowwhite and the seven dwarfs actually do exist... 

What do you understand by the word deterrent?

Netanyahu is a message boy. Iran's arab neighbors are concerned about the Iranians.  If the Iranians are not stopped, every arab country in the region with money will embark on a quest for nuclear arms.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/15/saudi-arabia-iran-nuclear-bomb-threat-mohammed-bin-salman

 

Netanyahu make be an unpopular fellow and slimey, but that does not take away from the fact that the Iranians had lied about their nuclear weapons program for decades. They were caught lying and they were develayed in their pursuit of nuclear weapons only by western sanctions despite the best efforts of Indian and Asian profiteers who violated the sanctions.

 

 

 

I suggest Iran does a deal with Mr Kim. Oil for nukes as it were.

 

I think we all now understand that nuclear weapons are a really effective defence strategy.

 

I recall multiple aggressive actions by Israel. I doubt they would try it on a country armed with nuclear weapons.

 

As you sow, so shall you reap!

Old allegations from more than 15 years ago, dealt with since by the UN and certainly covered by the current IAEA inspection agreement, that have been rehashed as another Netanyahu/Trump double act publicity stunt.

 

"John Hughes, a former deputy director for sanctions at the US State Department who worked on the Iran deal, said he had not seen anything in the Israeli presentation that would change the deal.

I think, frankly, this was a political statement meant to try to influence President Trump's decision on whether to pull out of the deal," Mr Hughes said. "I think it's mostly recycled material."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43952196

 

or as Israel's Haaretz newspaper puts it.

"What the Israeli prime minister presented on Monday wasn’t a smoking gun but a photograph of a smoking gun taken years ago"
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-great-show-glaring-flaw-3-takeaways-from-bibi-s-iran-lied-speech-1.6045586

 

This all of course coming from Israel, the only actual nuclear power in the Middle East who refuse to join the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty, which thus exempts itself from inspections (unlike Iran which has signed up), and endorsed by Trump who turns a blind eye to Israel's nuclear weapons program.

 

Reeks of double standards and hypocrisy.

Edited May 1, 20188 yr by dexterm

3 hours ago, Kiwiken said:

When has Iran ever threatened anyone with Nukes? Please provide proof of this assertion!

Ok.... Iran has made no secret of the fact that Israel is it's arch enemy

and it will stop at nothing to annihilate and bring about destruction to

zionist entity of Israel, small devil, the US being the big devil,

 and keep repeating their threats every chance they have, and now

they develop nukes they bought from Pakistan and N. Korea, for what?

peaceful purposes, yeah, in your dreams..

11 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Ok.... Iran has made no secret of the fact that Israel is it's arch enemy

and it will stop at nothing to annihilate and bring about destruction to

zionist entity of Israel, small devil, the US being the big devil,

 and keep repeating their threats every chance they have, and now

they develop nukes they bought from Pakistan and N. Korea, for what?

peaceful purposes, yeah, in your dreams..

So now you're alleging that Iranl has nukes? I don't think even Trump has alleged that. Maybe when he fires Bolton, for being a softie you can replace him.

There, fixed it for him.

Both Israel and Iran need to be reigned in. The Us needs to firmly tell Israel to stop building settlements in Palestinian areas or the Us will cut off aid.  Iran needs to be told in no uncertain terms that if it develops nuclear weapons- sanctions will commence possibly followed by other more severe actions. Since the current agreement will end- let everyone start on the re-negotiation now  The Palestinian -Israeli situation needs to be settled with Palestinians getting a country and Israels security guaranteed. 

Let me see Trump- the so called great negotiator pull of the above and I might actually believe him worthy of a Nobel Prize.  Otherwise, he is simply shooting his mouth off without any grasp of what is going on in the Middle East.

47 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

So now you're alleging that Iranl has nukes? I don't think even Trump has alleged that. Maybe when he fires Bolton, for being a softie you can replace him.

The 100,000 Iranian document that has been 'gathered' by the Israelis suggest that Iran is working very hard to enrich enough uranium and have enough senterfuges to produce weapon grade warhead to be mounted on one of their long range ICBM's to reach Israel, or have their proxy the Hezbollah using a dirty bomb to hit Israel, Iran is not a saint, and a country have let nearly a million soldiers die in the 1980 Iran Iraq war will not blink twice if they could wipe Israel off the map of the world....

Edited May 1, 20188 yr by ezzra

12 minutes ago, ezzra said:

The 100,000 Iranian document that has been 'gathered' by the Israelis suggest that Iran is working very hard to enrich enough uranium and have enough senterfuges to produce weapon grade warhead to be mounted on one of their long range ICBM's to reach Israel, or have their proxy the Hezbollah using a dirty bomb to hit Israel, Iran is not a saint, and a country have let nearly a million soldiers die in the 1980 Iran Iraq war will not blink twice if they could wipe Israel off the map of the world....

Really?

 

Stunning details reveal how Israel’s spy agency pulled off one of the most brazen heists in modern history

• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a "a great intelligence achievement" but experts have pointed out that none of the documents made public contained new information.

• "Everything he said was already known to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] and published," Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear-policy expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, tweeted.

  "There is literally nothing new here and nothing that changes the wisdom of the JCPOA."

•  

  http://www.businessinsider.com/how-did-mossad-steal-thousands-of-nuclear-documents-from-iran-2018-5

   

Both Trump and Netanyahu are helping the police and or FBI with their enquiries. Both are liars and purveyors of Fake News and they need a distraction.

 

2 hours ago, ezzra said:

The 100,000 Iranian document that has been 'gathered' by the Israelis suggest that Iran is working very hard to enrich enough uranium and have enough senterfuges to produce weapon grade warhead to be mounted on one of their long range ICBM's to reach Israel, or have their proxy the Hezbollah using a dirty bomb to hit Israel, Iran is not a saint, and a country have let nearly a million soldiers die in the 1980 Iran Iraq war will not blink twice if they could wipe Israel off the map of the world....

Your pro-Israel propaganda is getting worse every time you post.

What Israel has produced is that Iran WAS - not is - working to enrich uranium into weapons grade. That was precisely why the agreement was reached to stop that, which Iran has done. Even the pro-Israel US admits that.

 

As the US French ambassador said: The French ambassador to Washington, Gerard Araud, tweeted that information about past Iranian nuclear activity was in fact an argument in favour of the nuclear deal, not against it.

 

Iran didn't 'let nearly a million soldiers die in the Iraq-Iran war', they were killed by the invading Iraqi army, supported by the US and chemical weapons. You do twist events.

 

You & the Trump warmongering mob don't seem to comprehend that if the agreement is broken, Iran has to capability to develop nuclear weapons very quickly which is not what most sensible people would want.