WarSclerotic

Israel plans to share recently obtained intelligence ‎on covert Iranian nuclear activity, as well as on ‎its efforts to arm its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, ‎with several countries worldwide in an effort to ‎drive them to act against the Islamic republic.‎

Addressing the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday, ‎Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that Iran ‎was maintaining a secret warehouse holding ‎nuclear-‎related material, in violation of the 2015 deal with ‎world powers. ‎

He further lambasted Iran for its involvement in the ‎Syrian ‎civil war and its attempt to establish ‎permanent ‎military bases there from which to attack ‎Israel, as ‎well as for its funding and arming of ‎Hezbollah, presenting world leaders with evidence ‎that the latter was using ‎Iranian funding to build ‎weapon production ‎facilities in the heart of ‎Lebanese capital, ‎including near Beirut’s ‎international airport.‎ ‎

Israel Hayom learned Saturday that Israel will first ‎and foremost share the information with the other ‎signatories to the 2015 accord, namely Britain, ‎France, Germany, Russia and China, as well as with ‎the International Atomic Energy Agency.‎

This means to show them that while they insist on ‎backing the deal and look for ways to circumvent the ‎issues that arose in the wake of the U.S.’s decision ‎to withdraw from the deal in May, Iran continues to ‎deceive them and the U.N. by secretly pursuing ‎nuclear weapons.‎

Israeli intelligence has found that the facility, ‎disguised as a carpet manufacturing plant, housed ‎hardware and software directly connected to Iran’s ‎nuclear program. ‎

Western diplomats said Saturday that while this ‎information had to be brought to the IAEA’s ‎attention, it did not constitute a “smoking gun” ‎proving Iran was in violation of the nuclear deal. ‎

The decision to reveal the information at the U.N. ‎General Assembly was made after the data was ‎carefully scrutinized by the IDF and the Mossad, ‎Israel’s national intelligence agency, to ensure making it public would not compromise sensitive sources.‎

A senior political source said that Netanyahu sought ‎to have his U.N. address incriminate Iran “across ‎the board,” which led to the decision to include ‎the intelligence pertaining to Hezbollah’s weapon ‎production efforts. ‎

Israeli military intelligence has been closely ‎monitoring the Shiite terrorist group’s efforts for ‎the past year, and has already shared it with ‎several Western intelligence agencies, he said. ‎

Iranian officials dismissed Netanyahu’s claims at ‎the U.N., with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif ‎denouncing the allegations as an “obscene charge” ‎and calling the Israeli prime minister “liar who ‎would not stop lying.” ‎

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi ‎said that “the world will only laugh loudly at this ‎type of false, meaningless and unnecessary speech ‎and false shows.”‎

In Lebanon, where Hezbollah sits in the government ‎and wields considerable political power, the ‎allegations against Hezbollah prompted a heated ‎public and media debate.‎

The fact that one of the Hezbollah sites revealed is ‎located near Beirut’s international airport prompted ‎harsh criticism at the group for jeopardizing the ‎country’s tourism industry, which is one of its main ‎sources of revenue.‎

The Israeli official said that as the Lebanese ‎government it mostly powerless against the Shiite ‎terrorist group and it is unlikely that any Western ‎nations would attempt to curb its activities, the ‎Israeli policy of thwarting any Iranian attempt to ‎smuggle weapons to Hezbollah will remain in place.‎

A source in Netanyahu’s entourage to the U.N. General ‎Assembly said that Thursday’s speech has unsettled ‎the Iranians, who have been backed into a corner on ‎the issue.‎

Another source said that Netanyahu himself stressed ‎that he would not have gone forward with the ‎revelations without the support of the Israeli ‎intelligence community. ‎

Describing the speech as a “call for action,” ‎Netanyahu also noted that the fact that Iranian ‎officials “criticized the addressed, they didn’t ‎deny [the allegations], which says everything.”‎