The White House did not issue a formal correction, but did offer an explanation.
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“In line with standard IAEA practice, the IAEA evaluates all safeguards-relevant information available to it”.
That would tackle Iran’s nuclear activities post-2025 when the existing deal begins to expire, as well as Iran’s ballistic missile programme and its regional influence. In exchange, it was given relief from global economic sanctions and some of its assets overseas were unfrozen. They later issued a correction, saying “Iran had a robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program…”
“Iran lied. Big time”, Netanyahu said.
Pompeo said the documents show Iran had a secret nuclear weapons program for years.
But the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank that is hawkish on Iran and opposes the 2015 deal, welcomed Israel’s claim.
Standing in front of a large screen, Netanyahu said Israel had taken the documents stored secret location in Tehran to preserve the documents in case Iran wanted to restart a nuclear weapons program. “Iran will be required to explain all of them”, the official stated. The IAEA could use the documents to seek inspections of new sites, if it so chose, he says.
Former US Secretary of State John Kerry has come to the fore and defended the Iran nuclear deal, which US President Donald Trump brands as the “worst deal ever” and has often threatened to terminate it.
Israeli minister Yoav Galant told Israel’s Army Radio he suspected Trump was leaning toward nixing the deal, which would likely lead to a growing confrontation between Israel and Iran.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is the wrong person to accuse Iran of seeking nuclear weapons as his country has repeatedly refused to join any non-proliferation treaties which equates it to North Korea, Middle East experts told RT.
French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said Israeli information proved the need to maintain the checks and United Nations inspections established by the deal. And he recalled that USA intelligence had called Iran’s denials that it was working on a weapons program “a lie”, adding, “We always said that although they had stopped this core activity, they kept some other what we called “dual-use” things under way”.
“This wasn’t absence of evidence, he this was evidence of absence – that they were no longer working on the. weapons program”, Hayden said.
Congressman Beto O’Rourke has been consistently wrong on foreign policy, particularly as it regards Iran – one of the greatest global threats to the United States’ national security.
British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, however, said the presentation “underlines the importance” of keeping the deal’s constraints on Iran in place.
Iran maintained that it had only been pursuing nuclear energy. “And in a few days’ time, President Trump will decide, will make a decision on what to do with the nuclear deal”.
In a written statement sent to reporters late Monday by White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, the White House said that newly unveiled information gathered by Israeli intelligence proved that Iran “has a robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program”.
Netanyahu provided no direct evidence that Iran has violated the 2015 deal. “That is not acceptable”.
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Israel’s announcement appears calibrated for maximum impact on Trump in the run-up to the May 12 deadline he has given the Europeans to find ways to toughen the 2015 deal.
