Tensions in Southwest Asia are spiking ahead of a meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors that convenes in Vienna on June 6. Raising hackles in Tehran is not only the expectation that the U.S.-E3 plan to introduce an anti-Iran resolution in the meeting but also IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi’s visit to Israel yesterday. The Prime Minister’s office said that Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned Grossi that Iran was pushing ahead on developing a nuclear weapon while misleading the world with “false information and lies” to conceal its work, reported the Times of Israel. Bennett stressed the “urgent need” to confront Iran using “all means” to prevent it from acquiring nuclear arms, according to the Prime Minister’s Office. He also called for the IAEA to send Tehran a “clear and unequivocal message” at an upcoming Board of Governors meeting dealing with undeclared Iranian nuclear sites.
“Bennett made it clear that while Israel prefers diplomacy in order to deny Iran the possibility of developing nuclear weapons, it reserves the right to self-defense and to take action against Iran in order to block its nuclear program should the international community not succeed in the relevant timeframe,” the statement said, in a not very veiled reference to Israeli preparations for a military attack on Iran’s nuclear program.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh responded on Twitter late yesterday, referring to Grossi’s meeting with Bennett, “As one of the original signatories to NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty), Iran calls on all to beware of further erosion of the IAEA’s credibility,” reported Tasnim.
