Netanyahu: Iran's Nuclear Program Delayed by Israeli Actions for a Decade

As the U.S. government seeks a new agreement with Iran regarding its nuclear program, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu asserts that Israel will not allow Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons. In a statement released on Thursday, April 28, Netanyahu's office said: "As the Prime Minister has stated many times: Israel will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons." The statement adds: "The Prime Minister has undertaken many overt and covert actions in the fight against Iran's nuclear program, without which Iran would have had a nuclear arsenal today." According to Netanyahu, his actions have "delayed Iran's nuclear program by nearly a decade." These remarks come as Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, stated in an interview with Le Monde on April 27 that "Iran possesses the necessary materials to build not just one, but several nuclear bombs." In recent years, Israel has been repeatedly accused of being involved in the assassination of individuals known as "nuclear scientists" and military personnel engaged in the Islamic Republic's nuclear activities, and it has also claimed to have stolen Iran's nuclear documents from a location called "Turquzabad." Netanyahu's office further stated: "The Prime Minister has been leading the global fight against Iran's nuclear program for over a decade, even when some ignored this threat and referred to it as political fabrications, calling the Prime Minister delusional." The statement from the Israeli Prime Minister's office comes a day after a report from the American newspaper The New York Times, which cited U.S. government officials and other sources, stating that the U.S. President opposed Israel's planned attack on Iran's nuclear facilities and preferred to negotiate with Tehran to limit its nuclear program. Netanyahu reported the existence of "a secret nuclear warehouse in Maher Alley, Tehran." According to The New York Times, Israel had planned attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities in May with the goal of delaying Tehran's ability to build nuclear weapons for a year or more. The newspaper wrote that after months of internal discussions within the U.S. government, Donald Trump decided to pursue negotiations with Iran instead of supporting military options. Iranian and American representatives held their first round of negotiations under the Trump administration in Muscat, the capital of Oman, on April 22, which both sides described as "constructive and positive." The second round is set to take place next Saturday, April 30, in Rome, the capital of Italy. Steve Witkoff, Trump's special representative for Middle East affairs, has recently expressed differing positions regarding how to deal with Iran's nuclear program, ranging from recognizing Tehran's 3.67% uranium enrichment to completely dismantling and destroying the program. Abbas Araghchi, Iran's foreign minister, rejected this demand, stating that "Iran's enrichment rights are non-negotiable." Concurrently, Rafael Grossi, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, visited Iran on Wednesday and met with Masoud Pezeshkian, the President, and other officials of the Islamic Republic. He stated in an interview with Le Monde that "this time the U.S. wants to reach a simpler text; a text that is free from all the highly technical annexes of the 2015 agreement [JCPOA] that have not remained sustainable in practice." Mr. Grossi mentioned that the interactions between Iran and the U.S. are at a "very sensitive" stage.