Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded on Wednesday to a UN report showing Iran conducted activities “relevant” to developing nuclear arms at least until the end of 2003, saying the report shows the investigation of Iran’s activities should be intensified.
“The International Atomic Energy Agency investigation proves beyond any doubt that Iran was operating a secret project to develop a nuclear weapon after 2003, as Israel has said,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said, shortly after the report was made public.
“Israel expects the international community to deepen its investigation by way of the IAEA and use all the means at its disposal to ensure that Iran is unable to secretly build a nuclear weapon,” it added.
“Without such an investigation the world will not know how far along the secret Iranian program progressed and what its current status is.”
The report, released earlier Wednesday by the IAEA, said the agency believes that the Islamic Republic made a “coordinated” effort to develop nuclear weapons in the past, although the efforts apparently ended at an early stage.
According to the report, most of the dedicated work took place before 2003, though some parts continued until 2009.
The report repudiates the long-held Iranian claim that they have never desired nuclear weapons. In particular, it charges that the disputed Parchin military site was, in fact, a facility used for nuclear weapons research.
The UN watchdog recently released a report which determined that Iran had violated the terms of its nuclear deal with the West by increasing its stockpile of low-enriched uranium in the past three months by 460.2 kilograms.
Last month it was also revealed that Iran had stopped dismantling its centrifuges at the Natanz and Fordow uranium enrichment plants, breaching the nuclear deal that calls for the dismantling.
Israel has been one of the most vocal critics of the deal between Iran and the West, though Netanyahu recently indicated he would tone down his criticism.
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