Israel’s Nuclear Weapons Program: IAEA's Worse Kept Secret

Rasa - Iran’s Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Reza Najafi says Israel’s nuclear weapons program is a serious and continued threat to regional peace and international security.

News ID: 423996

Date: 30 September 2016 - 23:23

RNA - Addressing the 60th Annual Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference in the Austrian capital city of Vienna on Thursday, Najafi called for the IAEA inspection of the regime's secret nuclear sites, criticising some world powers for their unconditional support for and technical nuclear cooperation with Tel Aviv in violation of IAEA rules and regulations.

It is now an open secret that Israel, which has refused to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or allow inspections of its military nuclear facilities, keeps an estimated stockpile of some 200-400 nuclear warheads. According to former US Secretary of State Colin Powell's emails leaked earlier this month, Israel has 200 nuclear weapons “targeted on Tehran.”

Powell is not alone. US officials like former President Jimmy Carter and former CIA Director Robert Gates keep saying in interviews and speeches that Israel has at least 300 nuclear warheads. And former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in 2008: “Israel’s nukes are more of a threat than Iran. We got our hands full right now. We’re in such a hell of a mess.”

Meaning, the secrecy surrounding Israel’s nuclear weapons program is now obsolete and fraying around the edges. It takes an effort to preserve the fiction that this is a secret. This obstacle of America’s own making has long prevented IAEA negotiations over Israel’s weapons of mass destruction.

If the IAEA wants negotiations over global non-proliferation to work, it should begin by being candid. The Agency cannot expect NPT signers to take it seriously if it continues to corrupt on its non-proliferation regime by pretending it doesn't know whether Israel has nuclear weapons. This taboo impedes discussions within the UN and the IAEA.

Here, the policy of never officially confirming IAEA’s worst-kept secret helps Israel maintain a distinctive military posture and threat in the Middle East. This is the same regime that has attacked many countries, refuses to sign the NPT, has deployed nuclear weapons on three submarines, and has even made clear that if Israel fails to exist, it will take everyone down the tubes with it through the use of nuclear weapons.

Therefore, the United Nations in general and the IAEA in particular must be honest about Israel’s nuclear arsenal and act on those facts – if universal adherence to the NPT remains their fundamental objective. It's the logical entailment of seeking a region without weapons of mass destruction.

True, in the past the UN General Assembly passed a resolution that urged Israel to come clean on its nuclear weapons program. The UN even criticized Tel Aviv for failing to join the NPT, to renounce its arsenal of nuclear weapons, and to place its nuclear facilities under international oversight.

The problem is, the United States voted against the resolution and it doesn't take a strategic mind to understand why: The War Party in Washington wants to dominate and control the Middle East and its vast energy resources. It uses shipments and technology transfer in the name of security to provide Israel with arms against the regional states. This then provides Israel's support towards Washington's Mideast policy. That explains why amid the criticism and lip service at the UN and the IAEA, there is no serious pressure on Israel to come clean on its nuclear weapons.

Mind you, a double-standard policy as such terminates the UN’s and the IAEA’s goal of a world without nuclear weapons. With a nuclear-armed regime outside the room free-riding on the NPT, it calls into question virtually every aspect of the NPT agenda. If this is not procrastination, we don't know what is.

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