Iran accuses Israel of threatening a 'nuclear attack' after Netanyahu UN speech

Tehran has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of threatening to use nuclear weapons against Iran following a speech the he made at the UN General Assembly last week.

"Eight years ago, the Western powers promised that if Iran violated the nuclear deal, the sanctions would be snapped back. Well, Iran is violating the deal, but the sanctions have not been snapped back. To stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions, this policy must change. Sanctions must be snapped back," Netanyahu said during his speech on Friday.

He warned of acting against Iran if it pursues its nuclear programme, which is what prompted Tehran to submit a formal complaint to the UN.

Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons, but has never confirmed their existence.

"Above all, Iran must face a credible nuclear threat," Netanyahu continued, adding: "As long as I’m prime minister of Israel, I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons."

The Israeli prime minister’s office responded to Iran’s accusations, saying Netanyahu had "misread" the line and should have said a "credible military threat" instead of a "credible nuclear threat."

His office added that the speech was available in a PDF form on the UN General Assembly’s website.

Iran ignored the clarification and strongly condemned Netanyahu’s speech, warning Israel against any military action.

Israel usually keeps silent about its nuclear capabilities but is believed to possess between 80 and 400 nuclear warheads. 

Is Israel widening its shadow war against Iran?

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"Considering that nuclear weapons are a threat to the existence of humanity and the planet, the severity of such a threat is incomparable and will cause a great shock to the international community, especially when such a threat comes from a credible forum," said Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani.

"The use or even the mere threat of using nuclear weapons, regardless of the circumstances, by anyone, at any time and in any place, is a clear violation of international laws," he added.

The envoy called on the international community to respond to and deter Israel’s threats against his country, stressing Iran’s right for a "decisive response to any threats and illegal actions caused" by what he called the Israeli regime.

Iran is currently enriching uranium to much higher levels than previously, as part of its nuclear programme, which it says is for peaceful purposes only.

Having failed to revive a 2015 nuclear deal that had capped Iran’s enrichment at 3.67%, Iranian and Western officials have met to sketch out steps that could curb its fast-advancing nuclear work.

The 2015 agreement limited Iran's uranium enrichment to make it harder for it to develop the means to produce nuclear arms. Iran denies it has such ambitions.

Then-US President Donald Trump ditched the pact in 2018 and reimposed sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy. Tehran responded by gradually moving well beyond the deal's enrichment restrictions.

Israel has strongly opposed any nuclear deal with the Iranian government and said it would not be obliged to respect any agreement, long threatening to strike Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

Tehran has previously blamed Israel for carrying out attacks on military facilities in the country.

Israeli strikes on Iran?

Separately on Wednesday, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi denied that that Israeli carried out attacks on military facilities in the western city of Khorramabad.

Vahidi said the tremors felt in the city on Monday-Tuesday night were due to an earthquake and not an Israeli attack, after residents said they felt strong shakes and heard loud explosions in the city.

Iranian authorities had initially said they were investigating the reasons and did not rule out the possibility of it being an explosion, but these claims were denied on Tuesday.

In a Tuesday report, The Times of Israel newspaper alluded that the sound of explosions came from an Israeli attack on the Imam Ali base, 35 km from Khorramabad.

The underground military base allegedly contains Iranian Shahab-3 missiles with a range of 2,000 km.

(Reuters contributed to this report)