Iran Rejects Netanyahu's Claims of a 'Secret Nuclear Warehouse'

On Thursday, October 5, the spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry dismissed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statements regarding a supposed secret nuclear warehouse in Torqozabad, near Tehran, calling it 'a show and display' and denying its existence. Iran's Foreign Minister also stated that Israel is the only country in the Middle East with a secret and undeclared nuclear weapons program. Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted early Friday that Israel 'can never keep this reality ambiguous' as it is the only country in the region with a 'secret' and 'undeclared' nuclear weapons program, including a real arsenal of nuclear weapons. He added that it is time for Israel to acknowledge this and open the doors of its 'illegal' nuclear weapons program to international inspectors. Bahram Qasemi, the spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, referred to Netanyahu's remarks at the UN General Assembly as 'a new show and display' from Israeli officials, which 'though not worth addressing, we strongly deny and reject.' Netanyahu claimed that Iran has a secret nuclear facility 'to store a vast amount of equipment and materials (nuclear) from Iran's secret nuclear program' in 'Torqozabad' on a street named 'Maher' in the suburbs of Tehran. The Israeli Prime Minister stated that 'Iran is desperately trying to empty this hidden site and disperse its equipment and facilities to other locations.' He attributed this to Israel's actions last year in obtaining Iranian nuclear documents in Shourabad. Meanwhile, Bahram Qasemi rejected Netanyahu's statements, asserting that 'the only authority dealing with nuclear issues is the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which continues its permanent monitoring and verification and has confirmed Iran's commitment to all that it accepted responsibility for in the JCPOA with 12 reports, which has been emphasized and confirmed by the international community and all relevant authorities and other JCPOA members.' Qasemi characterized Netanyahu's statements as 'lies, unmeasured and contentless words and false shows' that the world will 'only laugh loudly' at. An unnamed U.S. official told Reuters on Thursday that the United States is aware of the facilities Netanyahu mentioned, which is a storage used for keeping nuclear documents and archives. An American intelligence official also stated that Netanyahu's remarks could be somewhat misleading. 'We have known about the existence of these facilities for some time, and they are filled with filing cabinets of papers and documents, not centrifuge tubes.' Netanyahu also claimed that he shared the existence of this secret warehouse with some leaders and the IAEA. He added, 'Since we raided the nuclear archive (of Iran), they have been busy cleaning this nuclear warehouse. Just last month, they moved 15 kilograms of radioactive materials. Do you know what they did with it? They took these materials and spread them around Tehran to eliminate evidence.' Netanyahu also insisted that Yukiya Amano, the Director General of the IAEA, is a 'good man' but has 'sent him a message' to act on this and 'send inspectors to inspect it before Iran cleans out this warehouse and tell the truth about Iran.' On April 29, Netanyahu announced that Israel had obtained 'over half a ton of documents' including 55,000 documents on 183 CDs from Iran's secret nuclear research. On October 4, the Prime Minister told reporters in New York, 'The greatest threat to Israel is not from Syria; it is not from Lebanon; it is not even from Iran's presence in Syria or from Iran's actions within its own country; rather, it is the Islamic Republic's ambition to acquire nuclear weapons, which is the number one disturbing threat to Israel.' U.S. President Donald Trump and several of his administration officials, including Mike Pompeo, have emphasized that the United States will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.