AGENCIES //TEHRAN
Iran Tuesday termed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an “infamous liar” over his allegations of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons programme.
Foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi called the accusations that Tehran lied about its nuclear ambitions “worn-out, useless and shameful”.
Mr Netanyahu’s comments came from a “broke and infamous liar who has had nothing to offer except lies and deceits,” Mr Ghasemi said in a statement.
“Netanyahu and the notorious, child-killing Zionist regime must have reached the basic understanding that the people of the world have enough awareness and cognisance,” he added.
Mr Netanyahu said in an elaborate televised presentation on Monday that he had new “proof” of an Iranian nuclear weapons plan that could be activated at any time.
But he did not provide evidence that Israel’s main enemy had actively worked to obtain an atomic weapon since the 2015 agreement between Tehran and six world powers.
His accusations came as the United States considers whether to pull out of the atomic accord with Tehran.
Iran has always denied it sought a nuclear weapon, insisting its atomic programme was for civilian purposes.
On the streets of Tehran, driver Seyed Ahmad Moghadasi rejected Mr Netanyahu’s statements as “ridiculous” and doubted the US would pull out of the nuclear deal.
US President Donald Trump “will stay because 99 per cent of the world has accepted (the agreement). The remaining one per cent — that’s Netanyahu and Trump — aren’t worth anything in the face of the whole world,” he said.
But Alireza, an office worker, didn’t share such optimism.
The gamble of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in backing the nuclear deal has failed to pay off, he said, leaving Tehran “besieged” by Washington.
“I think that a war could break out in some time” against his country, Alireza said, worried by the deployment of US forces around Iran.
UN atomic watchdog
The UN atomic watchdog declined on Tuesday to directly address the Israeli prime minister’s accusations that Iran was breaching its landmark nuclear deal with major powers.
Iran is known to have had a weapons programme until 2003; analysts and diplomats said Mr Netanyahu appeared to be recycling old accusations.
“In line with standard IAEA practice, the IAEA evaluates all (nuclear) safeguards-relevant information available to it,” said a spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is policing the deal, in Vienna. “However, it is not the practice of the IAEA to publicly discuss issues related to any such information.”
In a report issued in December 2015, shortly before the pact went into effect, the IAEA said “a range of activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device were conducted in Iran prior to the end of 2003 as a coordinated effort”.