Iran UN envoy says Israel behind assassinations of nuclear scientists

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nation’s atomic agency said that “Israel-hired terrorists” were behind the assassinations of several nuclear scientists in recent years.

Speaking with the IAEA Board of Governors, Reza Najafi on Thursday also criticized Israel for not adhering to international nuclear treaties, and the international community for ignoring it.

“While nuclear scientists across the entire Middle East have been assassinated by Israeli-hired terrorists, the regime’s nuclear experts are allowed access to some countries’ nuclear facilities,” he said, according to reports in Iranian media.

“Unfortunately, the Zionist Regime has ignored the rightful requests of the international community in the last years, and having the blind support of some western countries and with infringing all international laws and regulations, has pushed its dangerous military nuclear program forward.”

At least 4 Iranian scientists were assassinated between 2010-2012, and Iran has long said Israel’s spy agency was behind the killings as part of a campaign to sabotage its rogue nuclear program.

Israel has remained silent on the allegations, though various political leaders and security chiefs have hinted at acts of sabotage against Iran.

Israel maintains a policy of so-called nuclear ambiguity, neither publicly confirming nor denying the existence of an atomic arsenal.

Previous UN resolutions proposed by Arab states seeking to pressure Israel into nuclear transparency have been unsuccessful.

Reports in September said Arab members of the IAEA will refrain from introducing resolutions urging Israel to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and put its nuclear facilities under international oversight.

Photo: Iran’s Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency Reza Najafi at the IAEA board of governors meeting at the International Center, in Vienna, Austria, Monday, March 2, 2015. (Ronald Zak/AP)

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