Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Monday that Iran has lied repeatedly and “brazenly” about its past nuclear activities, as revealed by thousands of documents obtained by Israel.
“Iran’s leaders repeatedly deny ever pursuing nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said in a televised address, before playing clips by top Iranian officials saying as much. “Tonight, I’m here to tell you one thing: Iran lied. Big time.”
Netanyahu said that Tehran lied about the existence of a “comprehensive program to design, build, and test nuclear weapons.” The explicit goal of Project Amad, he continued, was to produce five warheads, each with a 10 kiloton TNT yield, that could be placed on a missile.
He stressed that Iran has preserved documents related to the program, which was purportedly shelved in 2003. “Iran is secretly storing Project Amad material to use at a time of its choice to develop nuclear weapons,” he said, later adding, “why would a terrorist regime hide, and meticulously catalog it secret nuclear files, if not to use them at a later date?”
Netanyahu said Iran has lied repeatedly about its past nuclear activities to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The country was required to disclose some information about its past nuclear activities as part of the 2015 nuclear deal, though the question of whether Tehran actually did so proved highly controversial. The deal was brokered with Iran by the United States and world powers.
“This was Iran’s chance to fully come clean,” he said, and read from a 2015 IAEA assessment that said, “Iran … denied the existence of a coordinated program aimed at the development of a nuclear explosive device and specifically denied the existence of the Amad Plan.”
Netanyahu added that while Iran was “forced to shelve” Project Amad in 2003, its nuclear work has continued secretly under cover of “new organizations.” He said that the former head of Project Amad, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, is now the head of an organization (SPND) that carries on Iran’s nuclear work today.
“Iran planned, at the highest levels, to continue work related to nuclear weapons under different guises, and using the same personnel,” he said.
Iran moved its nuclear files to a secret “atomic archive” in 2017, he said, and showed a photo of a cluster of buildings that he said contained the archive. Netanyahu added that the country ramped up its efforts to “hide its secret nuclear files” after the deal was negotiated.
Israel obtained half a ton of the material inside the vaults, he said, and pulled down black curtains that unveiled a bookshelf filled with binders and a display case filled with CDs. The files included documents, charts, presentations, blueprints, photos, and videos, all of which Netanyahu described as “incriminating.” The information has been shared with the U.S., he added, and will be shared with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Netanyahu tied the presentation to the fate of the 2015 nuclear deal Monday, saying that the agreement is “based on lies.” He said that it allows “unlimited enrichment” of uranium in “a few years,” and it fails to address Iran’s ballistic missile program as well as its “secret nuclear bomb program” and the weaponization work laid out Monday.
The allegations come ahead of a May 12 deadline that could decide the fate of the deal. U.S. President Donald Trump warned in January that he would not renew certain sanction waivers against Iran in May, effectively leaving the agreement, if European allies do not agree to fix its “disastrous flaws.”
U.S. and European officials have been discussing a potential “supplemental agreement” that could address Iran’s ballistic missile program and “adventurism in the Middle East.” Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said Sunday that the president has not yet made a decision on whether he’ll withdraw from the deal.
The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy organization warned this week that the country is “fully prepared to enrich uranium higher than we used to produce before the deal was reached” if Trump reimposes sanctions. Iranian officials have repeatedly said the country’s program is peaceful.
Netanyahu and Trump spoke on the phone Saturday, and newly confirmed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Netanyahu on Sunday.
The allegations Monday come shortly after Iran-linked Syrian military bases were struck by missiles, killing dozens. Multiple reports have suggested that Israel was behind the attack. Iran is a top backer of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
