Israel reveals SECRET FILES which claim Iran is aiming to develop NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Agents of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, snatched 100,000 files from a warehouse in Tehran in January which purportedly reveal Iran’s intentions to build nuclear weapons and the Iranian defence ministry’s responsibility for the development of weapons-grade enriched uranium.

A senior Israeli intelligence officer commented on the findings, saying: “What Iran told the International Atomic Energy Agency about its capacities was almost comical compared to what we have here.

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

Some of the documents were made available to the security services of the UK, Germany and France ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s four-day visit to Europe this week, in which he will hold meetings with Theresa May, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel.

Mr Netanyahu intends to use the findings to persuade the European leaders to join President Donald Trump in withdrawing from the Iran Nuclear Deal by pointing to its supposed invalidity.

He will stress the international accord was based on a fundamental falsehood, that Iran had never intended to develop uranium as part of a nuclear weapons programme and only for peaceful means.

Speaking prior to his European tour, Mr Netanyahu said: “I will stress the unchanging truth: Israel will not let Iran acquire nuclear weapons.”

David Albright, a former nuclear inspector in Iraq, echoed Israel’s alleged findings and said the Israelis were right to criticise Iran’s failure to disclose its former nuclear weapons development work.

Commenting on the findings, he said: “They would parallel my understanding of the decision to build the Fordow underground enrichment plant that I have assessed a few years ago was likely designed to make weapon-grade uranium, based in part on inspector findings when they first visited the plant.”

He also called for international inspectors to monitor nuclear facilities in Iran, stating: “The IAEA has done that in both South Africa and Taiwan, after they ended their nuclear weapons programmes.”

Mark Fitzpatrick, a non-proliferation expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, also concluded the emerging findings indicated “Iran had a robust nuclear hedging strategy”.

Yet in contrast to President Trump who cited Iran’s alleged failure to disclose their nuclear programme as a reason to terminate the deal, Mr Fitzpatrick argued against a UK withdrawal.

He concluded the UK should use Israel’s findings to “assist the verification efforts with clues on where to look”.

However Mr Netanyahu’s calls for the UK to withdraw from the deal threaten to aggravate a diplomatic rift between Europe and the US.

Leaders including Merkel and Macron intend to soften sanctions against Iran in order to open up the Iranian economy and modernise the country in a bid to make it more peaceful.

Yet the US and Israel intend to implement tougher sanctions and regulations, and have called for more stringent inspections of military sites and nuclear development facilities.

A diplomatic source commented on this discord, saying: “We will be split between those who take the American path, knowing that the threat of US punishment far outweighs any boon from the Iranian market, and those like France who may try to rally Europe around an alternative arrangement with Tehran.”