After a long day of rumors and anticipation in Israel, at 2000 hours local time Prime Minister Netanyahu made appearance at the Kirya, a governmental district in Tel Aviv. At first the speech was carried out in Hebrew, and shortly afterwards in English. According to Netanyahu, in recent weeks Israel has achieved its greatest intelligence achievement in history — the obtaining of the entire archive (in original form) of the Iranian nuclear program.

According to Netanyahu, the material, which is claimed to have been validated by the American intelligence, was hidden in an offsite facility in the district of Shorabad, Tehran. This was not just another facility.  Apparently the Iranians concealed their massive atomic archive in a simple looking like warehouse.  Whether or not this is a convenient cover story for a more intensive intelligence gathering program remains undetermined.

As Netanyahu showed the picture of the front of the warehouse, he then moved to the next slide of his presentation which shows a series of reinforced, massive safes which according to him contained over half a ton of information on the Iranian nuclear program, or Project Omad as it was known, which was in full effect between the years of 1999 to 2003, a project which was proved to be established for the purpose of obtaining nuclear weaponry.

Netanyahu than continued saying that a, “few weeks ago, Israel obtained half a ton of the material, inside this vault.” As he finished the sentence, Netanyahu than moved to the right of the stage towards two dark curtains, which he soon after revealed two cases containing 55,000 pages inside different binders and an additional 55,000 pages stored on 183 Compact Discs.

Netanyahu then began to go through the material which is claimed to be a treasure trove of evidence demonstrating that Iran lied, manipulated, and was in fact deliberately setting up a plan to equip itself eventually with nuclear weapons. He also added that according to the entire original material which was obtained by Israel, that Iran had not ceased its ambitions towards possessing nuclear weapons despite the fact that “Project Omad” was brought to a halt at 2003.

Instead, in one of the documents appears a statement that the original program (Omad) was to be divided into two programs in which one will be conducted openly and transparently while the other under total concealment. In another document the Iranian project director is quoted that, “from now on the program will work under the cover of scientific research for medical reasons.”  According to the Israeli Prime Minister, this project is still taking place at the Iranian SPND agency under the direct supervision of the Iranian defense ministry. This organization, previously exposed by the NCRI in 2011 consists of seven different subdivisions or sections, each responsible for specific parts and of Iran’s nuclear weapons research.

According to Netanyahu, the documents prove that Iran has planned to continued the same project, with the same men running it as before. “You do not put thousands of centrifuges in a mountain to produce medical isotopes, but for the purpose of nuclear weaponry. The facility in Fordow, was built to continue the original route of Project Omad,” Netanyahu continued while presenting accurate structural schemes of the mountainous facility.

Additional information which was highlighted during the press release:

  • The original objective of Project Omad, which came to a halt at 2003 was to create 5 nuclear warheads
  • Among the sensitive information was simulations of nuclear weapon explosions.
  • Maps and additional information regarding possible test sites for nuclear experiments.
  • The famous Fordow facility, already appears in the initial plans of Project Omad.
  • The manager of Project Omad, which was stopped in 2003 is today the director of the Iranian nuclear program.

The speech given by Nethanyahu comes shortly after the international debate regarding President Trump’s position against the Iranian nuclear agreement which was signed three years ago. Nethanyahu’s dramatic appearance might undermine the international movement which was until now in favor of Iran.

Featured image: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presents material on Iranian nuclear weapons development during a press conference in Tel Aviv, Monday, April 30 2018. Netanyahu says his government has obtained “half a ton” of secret Iranian documents proving the Tehran government once had a nuclear weapons program. Calling it a “great intelligence achievement,” Netanyahu said Monday that the documents show that Iran lied about its nuclear ambitions before signing a 2015 deal with world powers. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)