Israel issued a sharp response Tuesday night to a statement by United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Yukia Amano, who officially declined to inspect a newly-exposed nuclear site in Tehran publicly revealed by Netanyahu last week during his address to the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly in New York. Amano claimed the agency’s independence was key to its credibility in implementing “verification activities.”
In response, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pointed out, “The IAEA relates to inspections that it carried out in various places in Iran, but it does not relate to the specific site in Turquzabad which Prime Minister Netanyahu referred to in his UN speech.
“There is no reason to wait,” the Prime Minister’s Office said. “The IAEA must inspect the site and immediately dispatch monitors with Geiger counters, and the Prime Minister’s words will be seen as verifiably true.”
In his statement, Amano had said, “The agency sends inspectors to sites and locations only when needed. The agency uses all safeguards relevant to information available to it but it does not take any information at face value… All information obtained, including from third parties, is subject to rigorous review and assessed together with other available information to arrive at an independent assessment based on the agency’s own expertise. In order to maintain credibility, the agency’s independence in relation to the implementation of verification activities is of paramount importance.”