Iran’s nuclear chief says the Islamic Republic is entitled to respond to Israel’s arrogant behavior, days after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran “must face a credible nuclear threat.”
Speaking at the 67th Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference in Vienna on Monday, Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), referred to Netanyahu’s remarks at the UN General Assembly, saying there is no doubt that the international community’s silence has emboldened the Israeli regime.
“It is clear that the Islamic Republic of Iran considers it its right to respond to the audacities of the Zionist regime,” he said.
During his speech at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly on Friday, Netanyahu warned about the “curse of a nuclear Iran” and accused Tehran of spending “billions to arm its terror proxies.”
“Iran must face a credible nuclear threat. As long as I’m prime minister of Israel, I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons,” The Israeli prime minister said.
Iran’s diplomatic delegation at the UN dismissed Netanyahu’s speech as a “comedy show”, saying “The baseless allegations made by Israeli officials no longer fool anyone.”
Meanwhile, Eslami also said Israel’s threats against Iran’s nuclear scientists are in violation of the Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations Charter.
He said the Islamic Republic of Iran, as the initiator of the nuclear-weapon-free-zone plan in the Middle East, expresses its concern about the secret nuclear military program of the Israeli regime.
“Unfortunately, the Zionist regime has not placed its nuclear program under the safeguards agreement, and therefore, it is considered a threat to international peace and security,” he said, adding that Israel has endangered the integrity and credibility of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the IAEA.
Israel, which pursues a policy of deliberate ambiguity about its nuclear weapons, is estimated to possess 200 to 400 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, making it the sole possessor of non-conventional arms in West Asia.
The regime has, however, refused to either allow inspections of its military nuclear facilities or sign the NPT.
Israel has also assassinated at least seven Iranian nuclear scientists and conducted a series of sabotage operations against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities.
