Jerusalem, May 26: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims Iran’s nuclear declaration is a form of “trickery” by Tehran to ward off new sanctions.
“The pact concluded by Iran is a trickery which will not prevent it from getting enriched uranium,” AFP quoted Netanyahu as saying during a parliamentary debate on Tuesday.
“The aim of this trickery is to avoid international sanctions,” he said.
The declaration signed by the foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey, and Brazil in the Iranian capital on May 17, commits Tehran to deposit 1,200 kilograms (2,640 pounds) of low-enriched uranium in Turkey that would be exchanged for 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment.
Unlike Israel, Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has repeatedly declared that its nuclear program is peaceful.
Netanyahu’s accusation against Iran comes as Israel is considered the only possessor of nuclear arms in the Middle East.
Most experts estimate that Israel has between 100 and 200 nuclear warheads, largely based on information leaked to the Sunday Times newspaper in the 1980s by Mordechai Vanunu, a former worker at Israel’s Dimona nuclear reactor.
——–Agencies