Tel Aviv, March 6, (dpa/GNA) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself against a possible nuclear attack from Iran during a Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday.
Netanyahu was responding to remarks from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head, Rafael Grossi, after the IAEA and Iran reached agreement on Saturday, on inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities.
“International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi, just said in Tehran that an Israeli attack on the Iranian nuclear facilities is against the law,” Netanyahu said. “Against which law?”
He noted that Iran openly called for the destruction of Israel, and said that it was clear that Israel was allowed to defend itself.
“I say this because nothing will deter us from defending our country and preventing our enemies from eliminating the state of the Jews,” Netanyahu said.
On Saturday, the IAEA and Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) announced that experts from the UN’s nuclear watchdog would be permitted to carry out closer inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities.
The IAEA’s cameras would also to be put back into operation, after they and other monitoring equipment were dismantled last year, Grossi said.
Since the United States withdrew from a nuclear deal that restricted uranium enrichment, Iran has enriched uranium to a purity level of 60%, raising international concerns that it was close to being able to build a nuclear weapon.
Israel is convinced that Iran is working to develop a nuclear weapon and sees its existence as threatened. Israeli leaders have repeatedly said they will not allow Iran to become a nuclear power, and have refused to rule out a preventive strike.
GNA