Iran holds US responsible for any Israeli attack on nuclear program

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen Net
6 May 2023 08:36

Shamkhani says the US was and still is responsible for all the Israeli attacks on Iranian people and nuclear facilities.

The Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani (AP)

The Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, responded on Friday to the remarks of the US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, about the Israeli occupation's freedom to act against Iran's nuclear program.

"Jake Sullivan said: In the event that Iran manufactures a nuclear bomb, America will support any Israeli decision to confront that step," Shamkhani tweeted.

The Iranian official considered that "this announcement means that America was and still is responsible for all the terrorist attacks of the Zionist entity on Iranian people and nuclear facilities, and it must bear the consequences of that."

قال جاك سوليفان؛ في حال أقدمت #ايران على تصنيع قنبلة نووية، ستدعم امريكا اي قرار اسرائيلي لمواجهة تلك الخطوة. هذا الإعتراف يعني ان #أمريكا كانت وما تزال مسؤولة حتى الآن عن كافة الهجمات الإرهابية للكيان الصهيوني على الأشخاص والمنشآت النووية الإيرانية، وعليها تحمل تبعات ذلك.
— علی شمخانی (@alishamkhani_ir) May 5, 2023

On Thursday, Sullivan said in an address to the Washington Institute think tank that the US has "made clear to Iran that it can never be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon."

"As President [Joe] Biden has repeatedly reaffirmed, he will take the actions necessary to stand by this statement, including by recognizing Israel’s freedom of action," the US National Security Advisor indicated.

This comes although Iran has affirmed more than once that it has the technical ability to produce an atomic bomb, but it does not intend to do so, confirming the peacefulness of its nuclear program.

It is noteworthy that the American think tank Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft had previously pointed to the biased English-language media coverage, which seeks to establish in the minds of audiences that Iran is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

According to the institute, over the past 12 years, English-language media has mentioned the word Iran or Iranian alongside the word nuclear or atomic an average of 1.46 times per million words of newsprint.

'Israel' has nuclear weapons, admits former PM Barak

In the same context, former Israeli occupation Prime Minister Ehud Barak clearly acknowledged the fact that "Israel" possessed nuclear weapons.

"[...] political parties in the West are deeply concerned about the possibility that, if the coup in Israel succeeds, a messianic dictatorship will be established in the heart of the Middle East with nuclear weapons in its possession," Barak tweeted in early April.

It is noteworthy that the Israeli occupation challenged the UN Security Council Resolution 487 of June 1981, which required "Tel Aviv" to urgently submit all of its nuclear facilities to the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

On September 18, 2009, the IAEA issued a resolution calling on 'Israel" to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, as well as open its facilities to international inspection, though the occupation did not express any interest in the matter.

The UN General Assembly invited the Israeli occupation to become a treaty member in December 2009 following a resolution dubbed "Establishment of a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in the Region of the Middle East." Though 167 countries voted in favor of the resolution, the Israeli occupation refused to acquiesce in it. Furthermore, "Israel" skipped the 2010 nuclear summit in Washington.

The First Committee of the UN General Assembly also ruled in October 2022 in an initial 152-5 decision that "Israel" must destroy all its nuclear weapons and submit its nuclear facilities to the control of the IAEA.

On an almost daily basis, Israeli occupation officials attack the Iranian nuclear program despite its pacifist nature. Meanwhile, reports indicate that "Israel" possess nuclear weapons, which was confirmed by Barak.