Western diplomats believe that Israel is behind the leak of information from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in relation to Iran’s nuclear energy program.
Unnamed sources have been quoted by the Guardian in an article on December 10, 2012, as saying that Tel Aviv has carried out a series of leaks suggesting that Iran was allegedly involved in military nuclear experiments, in an attempt to mount international pressure against the Islamic Republic.
The latest leak, published by the Associated Press, showed an allegedly Iranian diagram depicting the physics of a nuclear blast, but scientists were quick to refute the purported evidence, citing an elementary mistake.
"This diagram does nothing more than indicating either slipshod analysis or an amateurish hoax," declared an article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
The diagram, which Iran rejected as forged, raised questions about an inquiry being conducted by IAEA inspectors after it emerged as part of a file of intelligence on the Iranian nuclear activities held by the agency.
An "intelligence summary" provided to AP with the graph appeared to implicate two Iranian nuclear scientists targeted for assassination two years ago. One of them, Majid Shahriari, was killed on his way to work in Tehran in November 2010 after a motorcyclist fixed a bomb to his car and the other, Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, was wounded in a similar terrorist attack the same day.
Earlier this year, veteran Israeli and American writers on intelligence published a book called Spies Against Armageddon, where they revealed the attacks were carried out by Mossad's assassination unit known as Kidon (Bayonet).
One western source said the "intelligence summary reads like an attempt to justify the assassinations."
European diplomats, however, noted that the principal impact of the leak would be to undermine the IAEA's credibility, mar the agency's ongoing investigation, and endanger its officials.
Iran has strongly rejected the allegations of involvement in non-civilian nuclear activities, emphasizing that numerous IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities have never found any evidence showing that the Islamic Republic's nuclear energy program has been diverted toward military objectives.
Tehran also argued that as a signatory to Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the IAEA, it is entitled to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
MRS/SS
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