Secret files prove Iran is trying to build bomb, claims Israel

Israel raised the pressure on Britain and its European partners last night to tear up the nuclear deal with Iran by sharing secret files showing Tehran’s determination to build a bomb.

One of the key documents, seen by The Times, is a memorandum that formally hands responsibility for the production of weapons-grade enriched uranium to the Iranian defence ministry. This and other written orders are part of a cache of 100,000 files snatched from a Tehran warehouse by agents of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, in January…

Mr Netanyahu will use the latest analytical findings from the captured archives to make the case to Theresa May on Wednesday that the multinational accord was essentially invalid since it was based on a falsehood: Iran’s contention that it had never pursued a nuclear weapons programme and that it needed to enrich uranium purely for peaceful purposes. “What Iran told the International Atomic Energy Agency about its capacities was almost comical compared to what we have here,” said a senior Israeli intelligence officer involved in the analysis of the seized documents.

He added: “Iran said there had only been feasibility and scientific studies but what we see is that Iran ran a fully fledged nuclear weapons programme and that it followed directions from the political levels.” The retrieved material includes photographs of a generator used to power a flash x-ray machine used to examine simulated explosions at the military site of Parchin.

David Albright, a former nuclear inspector in Iraq, told The Times yesterday that the Israelis were right to criticise the failings of Tehran to acknowledge its past nuclear weapons work and to permit inspectors to monitor facilities. “The IAEA has done that in both South Africa and Taiwan, after they ended their nuclear weapons programmes,” he said.

Commenting on the documents taken by the Israelis, Mr Albright said: “[They] would parallel my understanding of the decision to build the Fordow underground enrichment plant that I have assessed a few years ago was likely designed to make weapon-grade uranium, based in part on inspector findings when they first visited the plant.”