Netanyahu Says Israel Has Proof Iran Hiding Nuclear Weapons Activity

By Ken Bredemeier

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country has “new and conclusive proof” that Iran has been hiding nuclear weapons activity, in violation of the 2015 international pact restraining Tehran’s nuclear weapons development.

Ahead of the prime minister’s prime time television address, a high-level Israeli political source told VOA the Jewish state had obtained “a large pile of documents that expose the facts that Iran has been cheating all the time” on the deal.

Netanyahu has long opposed the accord that the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China reached with Tehran in exchange for lifting economic sanctions that had hobbled the Iranian economy. He has said that the deal would not ultimately prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power.

Netanyahu’s speech comes after a weekend phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, who is threatening to abrogate the deal in the coming days and reimpose sanctions on Iran. Trump has long complained that the pact has not prevented Iran from ballistic missile tests or stopped its military forays in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East.

New U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made clear Sunday that Trump will pull the U.S. out of the deal by May 12, against the wishes of American allies in Europe, unless it is “fixed” to the U.S.’s liking.