American Publications Report on Mossad's Operation to Steal Nuclear Documents from Iran

Less than three months after the Israeli Prime Minister announced that the Mossad had stolen a large number of "nuclear documents" from Tehran and transferred them outside of Iran, journalists from several American publications were invited to Israel to view and review some of these documents. According to the New York Times, the three journalists invited to Israel included a reporter from this publication as well as reporters from the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. The reports from these three publications were published on Sunday, July 14. According to these publications, Israeli agents were able to enter a building on February 13, where 32 safes containing important nuclear information about Iran were located. The New York Times writes that the warehouse that the Israeli agents infiltrated had been in use since 2015, following the nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers known as the JCPOA. According to this report, Iranian officials deliberately kept these documents in a commercial area unrelated to the nuclear program and even did not assign guards to the building during non-working hours to avoid raising suspicion among neighbors. The New York Times states that Israeli agents had only until the arrival of the employees, exactly six hours and 29 minutes, to steal Iran's nuclear documents, which contained 50,000 pages, 163 CDs, as well as important videos and maps. The New York Times emphasized that there is no independent verification of the authenticity of these documents. Iran has denied any theft of documents related to its nuclear program and described Israel's claims as a "propaganda show" and an excuse for renewed sanctions. However, the Washington Post writes that these documents show that Iranian scientists were working on "information related to bomb-making knowledge" obtained from a foreign country; but 15 years ago, a sudden order was issued to halt these studies. According to this report, Robert Kelly, a nuclear engineer and former inspector of the International Atomic Energy Agency who has seen some of the stolen documents, also stated that these documents show they were attempting to build a nuclear bomb. However, according to the Washington Post, the stolen documents do not indicate any "recent" nuclear activity in Iran, and no evidence of a violation of the nuclear agreement between Iran and the 1+5 countries has been found among them. According to this report, Americans have been aware of Iran's activities to acquire nuclear weapons prior to 2004, and based on this, the Obama administration intended to limit these Iranian activities through a nuclear agreement. On the evening of Monday, April 29, the Israeli Prime Minister unveiled what he called "documents and evidence" of Iran's secret nuclear progress and Tehran's "deception of the world" at the Ministry of Defense. According to Benjamin Netanyahu, these documents "decisively" prove that Iran continues to "shamelessly deceive" the international community and has transferred its nuclear program to hidden locations, other than known nuclear sites in Iran, after the JCPOA. The Israeli Prime Minister's statements came shortly before Donald Trump's announcement regarding his decision on the nuclear agreement. Abbas Araghchi, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, described the Israeli Prime Minister's remarks at that time as "childish, ridiculous, and a worn-out claim." Mr. Araghchi, in an interview with the second channel of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, said, "How is it that Iran keeps such important documents in an abandoned industrial warehouse?" The Deputy Foreign Minister also emphasized that the issue of the potential military dimensions of Iran's nuclear activities, known as PMD, was closed in 2015 at the Board of Governors. Donald Trump, the President of the United States, and several officials of his administration, including Mike Pompeo, have emphasized that the United States will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.