In the latest development in the saga of Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, Ynet news reports that Iranian official Fereydoun Abbasi “occasionally” gave the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “false information.” The al-Hayat newspaper in London reported Abbasi as saying, “There is no choice but to mislead other intelligence bodies.”
Iran has consistently rebuked and misled the IAEA and the international community as a whole. Recent reports on Iran’s nuclear program by the IAEA have indicated unwillingness on the part of the Iranian regime to cooperate at the most basic levels. The admittance of willful negligence on cooperating with the IAEA by such a senior Iranian official is a dramatic boost to Israeli and Western stated positions on Iran’s nuclear program.
At the 56th General Conference of the IAEA, Dr. Shaul Chorev, Head of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, delivered a statement to the President and the delegates of the conference addressing the significance of a nuclear armed Iran.
Dr. Chorev stated that, “the reports of the Director General of the IAEA on Iran, and subsequent resolutions of the Board of Governors, leave no doubt as to the intended goal of Iran’s persistent efforts, in every aspect of its nuclear program, that has long shed any pretention of a civilian program.”
Further, Dr. Chorev pointed out that, “Iran’s nuclear activities are conducted in violation of all relevant U.N. Security Council and IAEA Board of Governors resolutions, and are carried out with impunity, as measures of the international community have no effect on Iran’s nuclear program.”
Many Middle Eastern countries have pointed to Israel's own nuclear program as justification for acquiring nuclear weapons against all international laws and sanctions.
Addressing this fact in his statement to the IAEA President, Dr. Chorav states that, “Israel believes in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy in the Middle East, as long as states fully honor their international nonproliferation obligations.”
Jordan, an Arab nation and Israel’s neighbor, has a nuclear energy program that Israel has helped to collaborate on, despite the widely held misconceptions that Israel does not want Muslims to have nuclear capabilities. According to Dr. Chorav, “Israel also provided comprehensive geological data to the Kingdom upon its request.”