Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s revelations that Iran has been running a secret programme to build nuclear weapons were delivered on Monday with one specific aim: To persuade the administration of United States President Donald Trump to cancel the nuclear deal with Tehran.
Washington has until May 12 to decide whether or not to renew its support for the deal, which was finally implemented in the summer of 2015 after the then US president Barack Obama invested an enormous amount of political capital in reaching an agreement with Iran. Obama believed the agreement negotiated between Iran and six major powers — including Britain — was the best means of persuading the ayatollahs to scale down their nuclear-related activities, which most Western intelligence officials believed was aimed at developing nuclear weapons. In return the West agreed to lift many of the crippling sanctions it had imposed on Tehran.
Israel, though, remained deeply sceptical about Iran’s insistence that its nuclear activities were entirely peaceful. Its ministers had criticised Tehran’s decision to continue its work on developing ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, with the ability of making a direct strike on Israel.
There has been growing disquiet in [occupied] Jerusalem, too, about the growing influence of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard throughout the Middle East, particularly in neighbouring Syria, where Iran has established a network of self-sufficient military bases. The seriousness with which the Israelis view these developments was demonstrated on Sunday night when the Israeli military launched another missile attack on Iranian positions in Syria.
Netanyahu will therefore be hoping that his latest revelations, which he insists are “new and conclusive proof” that Iran has been concealing the true extent of its nuclear ambitions from the outside world for decades, will help to persuade Trump to ditch the deal later this month. In his presentation, he said the Jewish state had obtained tens of thousands of pages of documents relating to Iran’s clandestine plan to develop nuclear weapons, known as Project Amad, which had been hidden at a secret location in Tehran since the deal was signed.
The documents are said to show that Iran has retained the ability and know-how to continue working on its nuclear weapons programme.
Iran’s failure to come clean about its nuclear intentions is nothing new.
For a decade or more prior to signing the deal, Iranian officials regularly failed to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations-sponsored watchdog responsible for monitoring nuclear operations.
On one occasion the Iranians demolished and removed a key nuclear installation — including the soil it was built upon — to prevent UN inspectors from investigating claims that traces of weapons-grade uranium had been found at the site.
But while Iran’s double-dealing went unpunished by Obama, desperate to avoid confrontation with Tehran at all costs, the same cannot be said for the Trump administration.
On the contrary, with renowned hawks like Mike Pompeo, the new US Secretary of State, and John Bolton, US National Security Adviser, holding key positions in the Trump administration, Iran could soon face a stark choice: Either comply with the terms of the deal, or face the consequences.
— The Telegraph Group Limited, London, 2018
Con Coughlin is the Daily Telegraph’s defence editor and chief foreign affairs columnist.
