Israel shares key files from Iran nuclear cache with Germany, France, UK: report

Ahead of his visits to Berlin, Paris, and London this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upped the pressure on his European counterparts to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal by sharing some of the top-secret files obtained by his country pertaining to an alleged secret Iranian nuclear weapons program with German, French, and British security agencies, the UK’s Times newspaper reported Monday.

Among the hundreds of thousands of files obtained by Israel is a document which formally transfers responsibility for the production of weapons-grade enriched uranium to Iran’s defense ministry, The Times reported.

That document, examined by The Times, is dated by Israel to 2001 and authorizes the Iranian military to enrich uranium hexafluoride (UF6) by centrifuges from three percent to more than 90 percent -- levels which suggest that Iran intended to build a nuclear weapon.

The memorandum is signed on behalf of the Iranian army by Amir Daryaban Ali Shamkami, who now serves as secretary of Iran’s national security council and a top military adviser to Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to the report.

Israel hopes that evidence from the secret nuclear archive will bolster Netanyahu's efforts to persuade German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Theresa May to follow US President Donald Trump and quit the 2015 nuclear pact.

During visits to Germany, France, and the UK on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday respectively, Netanyahu will attempt to convince Merkel, Macron, and May that the nuclear agreement to which their countries are party is based on the falsehood that Iran had never pursued a nuclear weapons program, and is therefore essentially invalid.

“What Iran told the International Atomic Energy Agency about its capacities was almost comical compared to what we have here,” a senior Israeli intelligence officer involved in the analysis of the secret cache told The Times.

“Iran said there had only been feasibility and scientific studies but what we see is that Iran ran a fully fledged nuclear weapons program and that it followed directions from the political levels,” the official added.

Prior to embarking on his three-day European tour, Netanyahu made clear that he would press Merkel, Macron, and May to quit the pact.

“While I will discuss with them developments in the region, the emphasis will be on Iran, first of all on continuing to block Iran's nuclear program,” Netanyahu said at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.

"Of course, I will reiterate an unchanging truth: Israel will not allow Iran to achieve nuclear weapons," he added.

In the face of the US retreat, Merkel, Macron, and May have all strongly defended the agreement as the best way to head off a regional arms race and have vowed with Russia and China, the two other signatory countries to the deal, to keep it alive.

The EU also has commercial interests tied up in the deal. European firms, especially those from France and Germany, rushed to invest in Iran following the 2015 accord, under which Tehran agreed to freeze its nuclear program in return for an end to punishing international sanctions.

Hoping to protect their interests, the Europeans have proposed hammering out a supplementary deal with Tehran covering its ballistic missile program as well as its interventions in countries such as Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Western powers view Iran's meddling as destabilizing for the region while Israel sees it as a direct threat to its existence.

Israel is considered the leading military power in the Middle East and believed to be the only country in the region to possess nuclear weapons.

Israel itself maintains a policy of nondisclosure with regards to its nuclear capabilities, neither confirming nor denying whether it possessive nuclear arms.

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Mossad stole Iran nuclear files, smuggled them back to Israel in one night