‘Arts & crafts show’ can’t hide Israel’s secretive WMD program, Iranian FM says
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has taken aim at Israel’s “secret” nuclear weapons program, after Benjamin Netanyahu presented, for the umpteenth time, photos allegedly showing hidden Iranian nuclear sites.
“No arts & craft show will ever obfuscate that Israel is only regime in our region with a *secret* and *undeclared* nuclear weapons program – including an *actual atomic arsenal*. Time for Israel to fess up and open its illegal nuclear weapons program to international inspectors,” Zarif tweeted.
No arts & craft show will ever obfuscate that Israel is only regime in our region with a *secret* and *undeclared* nuclear weapons program - including an *actual atomic arsenal*. Time for Israel to fess up and open its illegal nuclear weapons program to international inspectors.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) September 27, 2018
The tweet comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented aerial photographs allegedly showing secret warehouses holding nuclear-related material, during his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday.
The Israeli leader has a penchant for visual aids when discussing the looming threat posed by Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program. In 2012, he inspired one of the internet’s most popular memes after using a cartoonish black-and-white drawing of bomb with a fuse to illustrate Iran’s progress towards developing a nuclear weapon.
More recently, the Israeli leader hauled out a piece of an alleged Iranian drone, adding a bit of flair to an otherwise standard speech railing against Tehran.
Israel is widely believed to have begun producing nuclear weapons in 1967, following the Six-Day War, with estimates of the size of Israel’s arsenal ranging from 75 to several hundred nuclear warheads.
Tel Aviv has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of its nuclear weapons program.
In May, CNN’s Chris Cuomo pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Israel’s alleged secretive nuclear program. He pointed out that Netanyahu’s objections to the Iran nuclear deal – which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed Tehran’s full compliance with – leaves Tel Aviv open to criticism about its own nuclear program.
“You know what [Tehran’s] take on it is. It’s that you won’t even confirm that you have nuclear weapons when the world already believes that you do. Why? Why keep that quiet?” Cuomo asked.
“Well, you can make all your assumptions. One thing is clear, Israel is not threatening the annihilation of any country,” the Israeli leader replied.
"Well you can make all your assumptions. One thing is clear: Israel is not threatening the annihilation of any country," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says when asked by @ChrisCuomo if Israel has nuclear weapons pic.twitter.com/IMWAv6B1mA
— New Day (@NewDay) May 1, 2018
However, Netanyahu has personally made veiled threats involving the use of nuclear weapons. While visiting an Israeli atomic reactor in August, the Israeli prime minister stated that “those who threaten to wipe us out put themselves in a similar danger.”
The irony was not lost on Zarif.
Iran, a country without nuclear weapons, is threatened with atomic annihilation by a warmonger standing next to an actual nuclear weapons factory. Beyond shameless in the gall. pic.twitter.com/MBoFac8Bvv
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) August 29, 2018
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