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| Israel calls for tougher probes into Iran-Syria nukes |
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Monday, June 08, 2009
OCCUPIED-AL-QUDS: Israel called on the International Atomic Agency on Sunday to use firmer measures to investigate suspected Syrian and Iranian nuclear sites after its latest report suggested the two countries were hindering probes.
The UN nuclear agency on Friday reported its second unexplained find of uranium particles at a Syrian nuclear site. The investigation was sparked by suspicions that a Syrian desert location allegedly hit by Israeli warplanes in 2007 was a plutonium producing reactor built with North Korean assistance.
In a separate report, the agency said Iran continued to expand its uranium enrichment programme despite three sets of UN Security Council sanctions meant to pressure Tehran into halting the project. The agency has made little progress for over a year in its inquiries. The restricted reports, made available to The Associated Press on Friday, essentially confirmed stonewalling by both countries of the two separate IAEA probes.
Iran insists its nuclear activities are peaceful, while Syria denies hiding a nuclear programme. Both countries are bitter enemies of Israel. Israeli Foreign Ministry said the UN report raised questions about Syrian activity and noted its unresponsiveness. “This situation reinforces suspicions that Syria is trying to blur evidence of secret nuclear activity,” the statement said. Israel has been focusing most of its attention on Iran, suspecting that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Iran and its nuclear project are the most serious danger to Israel’s security. Since taking office March 31, Netanyahu has tried to put Iran at the top of the world’s Mideast agenda instead of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Israel considers Iran a strategic threat because of its nuclear programme, development of long-range missiles and repeated references by its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to Israel’s destruction.
“What is needed from the international community is immediate and determined action to ensure that Iran will not be able to produce nuclear weapons,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said, calling on the IAEA to “conduct an investigation free from political considerations and bias, and also to demand that North Korea, which is mentioned in the report, cooperate in the investigation.” Without cooperation by Iran, the IAEA “will not be in a position to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran,” the report said.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
