Israel says Iran lied about nuclear programme

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Iran’s leaders of “brazenly lying” when they claimed Iran was not pursuing a nuclear weapons programme.

During an address from the Israel Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu presented what he said was “new and conclusive proof” that Iran is keeping an “atomic archive” at a secret compound.

“Tonight, I'm here to tell you one thing: Iran lied – big time,” Netanyahu said, before revealing a trove of around 100,000 Iranian documents that were seized by Israeli spies in January.

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However, Netanyahu “did not provide any evidence that Iran had violated the nuclear agreement since it took effect in early 2016”, says The New York Times. Most of the evidence relates to programmes pursued before the agreement was signed.

Netanyahu’s speech came at a “critical time for the nuclear deal”, says The Washington Post, days before the 12 May deadline for Donald Trump to decide whether to continue to waive sanctions that were lifted under the agreement.

The US President’s new Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, appeared to back Netanyahu’s interpretation of the documents last night, saying they showed that Iranian leaders had lied about its nuclear weapons programme.

“But Pompeo declined to say whether the documents provided evidence of a violation of the nuclear deal,” Reuters reports.

The British Government said it was “not naive” about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and that a rigorous programme of inspections remained the most effective way to counter them.