Netanyahu's Verbal Clash with Amano Over 'Iran's Nuclear Warehouse' in Torquzabad

On Tuesday, October 2, Benjamin Netanyahu's office engaged in a verbal clash with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over what the Israeli Prime Minister referred to as Iran's 'secret nuclear warehouse' in Torquzabad, asserting that Israel's awareness of this warehouse is 'the absolute truth.' Simultaneously, Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's Defense Minister, stated that the country would reveal more information at the 'appropriate time.' During the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly on October 5, Netanyahu displayed a Google map and an image of a building in 'Torquzabad,' claiming that Israel had provided the IAEA with information about the 'Iranian secret nuclear warehouse' months ago, but the agency had taken no action and had not sent inspectors there. However, Yukiya Amano, the IAEA Director General, emphasized in a statement on Tuesday that IAEA inspectors had gone to every location in Iran where they needed to be dispatched. Amano added that the agency's actions regarding information provided by countries and third parties are based on independent investigations, and any information that seems valuable does not automatically lead to an investigation. Amano's statement suggests that the UN nuclear watchdog did not consider the information provided by Israel about Torquzabad to be 'valuable.' According to Ynet, Netanyahu's office reiterated on Tuesday evening that 'IAEA observers with the necessary equipment to measure nuclear radiation should be dispatched to this area immediately to prove that Netanyahu's statements are entirely correct.' The Prime Minister's office questioned why Amano did not specifically mention Torquzabad. Netanyahu had stated at the UN General Assembly that after the JCPOA, Iran not only did not destroy documents related to its nuclear bomb program but also hid a significant amount of nuclear material in Torquzabad. According to Netanyahu, after Israel gained access to Iran's nuclear archive in Shourabad, Tehran became alarmed and scattered the stored materials across Tehran. Iranian officials have rejected Netanyahu's statements regarding Torquzabad in recent days; Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, reminded that Israel itself has a 'real arsenal of nuclear weapons.' Iranian media also referred to the location mentioned by Netanyahu as 'Mr. Rezaei's carpet cleaning business and partners,' but the images they published were not from inside this building but from the one opposite it. While the U.S. State Department supported Netanyahu's statements in a statement on Thursday, an unnamed U.S. intelligence official said that Netanyahu's remarks were 'somewhat misleading' and that the U.S. had been aware of this location for a long time, which is filled with folders and papers, not centrifuges, and based on this information, it cannot lead the remaining countries in the JCPOA to withdraw from it. Lieberman stated that Israel has 'much more information and will determine the appropriate time to disclose more sites, both in Iran and Beirut.' In addition to revealing the Torquzabad nuclear warehouse, Netanyahu also showed images from Lebanon, claiming that Hezbollah has stored many missiles in three sites, including a stadium near Beirut Airport. Gebran Bassil, Lebanon's Foreign Minister, took ambassadors from about 70 countries to these three sites on October 9, expressing concern that Israel might soon attack Lebanon based on these claims and calling for solidarity among countries, especially Arab nations. Michel Aoun, the President of Lebanon, also stated on Tuesday that Netanyahu's remarks constitute a threat against Lebanon.